


Healing Hands

by AmeliaVonTattenbaum



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Ceiling Vent Clint Barton, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Thor : Ragnorok (Movie) Compliant, Other, Pietro Maximoff Lives, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Science Bros, Shapeshifting, Smut, Tags May Change, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2020-09-28 20:50:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 53,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20432252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmeliaVonTattenbaum/pseuds/AmeliaVonTattenbaum
Summary: The Sokovian Catastrophe is over, and the Avengers are trying to save the world without falling apart themselves. What will it take to pull them back together again?Some time, some love....And a cat.





	1. The Hudson River Is On Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet our lovely lady, who has a touching moment with Steve, and who also uses Thor as a cat toy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story starts after Winter Soldier.  
Pietro is alive, because if the Flash can catch bullets then so should Pietro.  
SHIELD is still in tact, and Fury is still Director.

New York City is a pretty beautiful place to live, when it’s not on fire. This was not one of those times.

"How're we looking, team?"

"The three fire demons on the east side are dead. The fire's out in Queens, and the fire department has the fire contained to the water front. Still waiting on the Coast Guard."

“How many demons we got left?”

“Just the boss, I think.”

"Cap, Central Park’s been cleared, and so has the Upper West side. The demon in Midtown East is dead, but there’s still a lot of fires to put out."

"Clint, get PD to help with a fire wall and any necessary evacuation from Midtown. Tony?"

"Almost out of water Cap, but we're almost done. Coast Guard just got here and they're pumping."

"Sam, what's the status on the big fire demon?"

"Hulk's playing pat-a-cake with it in the Hudson, but it's not slowing down much."

"Wanda, how are you and Pietro holding up?"

"The only fire that is left is on the banks of where the Hulk and the demon are."

"She's running low on energy, and I could use a rest, Captain."

"Hey, has anyone seen Thor? Pretty sure he knows where this guy belongs."

"Not since the beginning. He said something about an old friend, then he flew off."

"Well I hope he gets here soon, we could use the-" Steve stopped as the buildings began to shake, and several glass windows shattered.

"Mrrr-OWWWWWW!" And for a moment, time stood still. Then Tony's voice came through the coms, unusually quiet.

"Hey guys? You might wanna come see this." With the fire fight almost finished, and with the possibility of a new problem on everyone's minds, they raced to Roosevelt Island, where they found Thor, along with -

"The fuck is with the giant cat?"

"Language, Barton."

Thor sat in full battle armor, swinging Mjolnir triumphantly as the elephant sized cat loped happily down the river, splashing up waves that doused the fires that lined the banks on either side. Steve felt his jaw loosen significantly as the cat reached the fire demon and Hulk, and proceeded to grab up the demon in its mouth and shake it violently. A scream ripped across the air as the demon's head and body separated. The body fell into the water, the flames extinguishing with a lot of steam, while the head remained gripped in the teeth of the large feline. The fire fizzled out, and the air began to clear. The giant cat then turned toward the team, swimming gracefully to the bank with the Hulk attached to its tail. All of them stepped back, giving the cat a wide berth as it (she, he?) climbed out of the water to stand on solid ground, shaking off the excess water and giving them all a sound dousing. Thor slid down, patting the Hulk as he stood to one side looking up at the cat in shock, the green slowly beginning to recede. The cat lowered gracefully to lay down as Thor approached the team, grin wide and his eyes dancing.

"Friends! We have conquered yet again!" They all stared at him, a little at a loss as to where to start. Finally, Tony (dependably filterless Tony) opened his mouth.

"Yeah, good job Pointbreak. Hey, quick question: where'd the cat come from, and why haven't we seen it before?" Thor laughed with delight, gesturing to the cat with Mjolnir.

"This, my friend, is Emmaline!" Steve blinked, eyebrows scrunched slightly. Sam recovered from his shock first.

“Great. Are all cats on Asgard this big?” Sam deadpanned.

“Not at all, my friend! Emmaline is not from Asgard. She is from here, on Midgard!” Natasha cocked an eyebrow.

“Hold on a sec, Pointbreak. You’re saying this giant thing has been on Earth this whole time, and we didn’t know?” Thor’s smile slipped a little, and his eyebrows creased a little in confusion.

“But of course!”

“Well where the hell did she come from?!” Tony yelled, gesturing with an armored hand and looking a little frustrated. Thor brightened. Behind him, Emmaline’s tail twitched, and her haunches moved from a peaceful laying position to a hunting crouch.

“Why, she’s been here in New York! Been here for years, living in the place you call Quee-“ With a loud warning snarl, Emmaline pounced, knocking Thor to the ground and sending Mjolnir sliding across the grass. Everyone shouted, dropping into defense positions, except a now smaller, very pink Bruce, who simply backed away, shaking his head. The shouting stopped suddenly when, instead of fighting back or summoning Mjolnir, Thor held his hands out and called out, “It’s alright, friends! She will not hurt me!”

“The fuck she won’t, man, she just pounced on you!” Sam yelled, hovering over Steve’s head and looking more than a little worried about being a flying thing around a cat this large. Steve, on the other hand, looked less like he was trying to do calculus without a calculator and more like he was weighing options in his mind. No one moved, for what felt like a very long time, but what was probably only a moment or two. Then, slowly, Steve put down his shield.

“Cap?” Tony called out, confusion lacing his tone faintly. Steve ignored him, walking slowly towards the feline. Emmaline watched him approach, unmoving, eyes focused without blinking on his face. Thor lay very still beneath her paws, watching her face for the faintest sign of a snarl, very aware of the claws hidden inside her paws. Steve stopped at her nose, slowly raising his hand toward her nose. Natasha put out a hand as Clint went to draw his bow, and everyone held their breath. Slowly, Emmaline’s pupils expanded, and she inched her nose closer to let the very relieved Captain rest his hand on the very wet tip. Her eyes closed in contentment as Steve began to scratch along her nose and as high as he could reach between her eyes. Her paws loosened, and Thor slid himself from beneath the pads of her toes. Tony and Sam dropped to the ground, confused, and more than a little shocked as Emmaline settled down lower so that Steve could scratch higher on her head, right between the ears. Steve softened, smiling, as the giant cat relaxed, and laughed for the first times in ages as her purring set the ground vibrating gently.

“I understand, doll. You’ve got your secrets.” Steve mused softly, burrowing his hands in her thick orange fur. “We sure could use your help more often, though.” Her eyelids lifted gradually, green eyes holding his. “No contracts, no commitments, nothing. Just a little help every so often when we need it. Would that be okay?” She blinked, glancing towards the team and back again. Steve nodded, smiling. Slowly, she nodded her head. “Okay.” Steve backed away, almost regretfully, as the purring stopped. Emmaline stood, shaking herself off slightly, seeming exhausted. Thor stepped forward, Mjolnir in hand again.

“Friends, I must return Emmaline to her home! Maintaining this form is exhausting to her, and she will require much rest before - “ A hiss and a clawless bap from the feline’s paw sent Thor sprawling, though at this point no one moved to help him. Thor chuckled, rolling into a sitting position. “Very well, very well, I concede!” He heaved to his feet, grinning at his - still - rather overwhelmed friends. “I shall see you again in the evening for our meeting to remove our briefs!” And with that, he flew off, the giant cat loping off gracefully behind him towards Manhattan. Stunned silence fell, until -

“So, has no one explained the meaning of a debriefing to Pointbreak yet?” Clint snickered at Tony.

“Oh come on Stark, don’t tell me you don’t get a little hot down south at the idea of a briefs-less God of Thunder.” Nat smacked him on the back of the head, as Steve and Bruce both became very interested in their shoes. Tony chuckled, thoroughly enjoying the rather pink tone of Steve’s cheekbones.

“So Cap, what was that thing with the cat all about?” Steve looked up at Tony, surprisingly coherent for the previous conversation topic.

“She’s willing to help us when we need it, as long as there’s no commitments involved and she’s given space.” Several mouths fell open as Steve held up a hand. “We can discuss it during debriefing once Thor gets back. For now, let's check in with the Coast Guard and make sure everyone is alright.” Tony’s helmet slid closed, and he and Falcon flew off to meet the Coast Guard while everyone else started the jog back. Then -

“Wait, didn’t Thor say she lives in Queens?”

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Fury was, understandably, more than a little incredulous. Not only because there was an unidentified... thing .... running around New York City that nobody had ever heard of or seen before, but because of all the people to have such a risky idea, Captain Steve Rogers wasn’t usually it. But here Steve was, sitting in a chair in the debriefing room, suggesting....

“So let me get this straight. You want a giant orange cat, the size of a motherfucking zeppelin, to join the Avengers?” Steve looked him in the eyes, firm. Everyone sat around the table in various levels of comfort. Sam sat in the corner, leaned all the way back in his chair. Clint and Natasha sat side by side to the left of Steve, and Tony sat by the door, texting somebody. Thor was sitting at the end of the table, looking a little wary of the one-eyed man, and also more than a little hungry for pop tarts. Wanda and Pietro sat across from Clint and Natasha, and Agent Hill sat to Fury’s left, taking notes.

“Yes, sir. I believe we could benefit from an ally of that size and strength, especially if something like Ultron or Loki were to happen again. Plus, if the Hulk were ever to become a problem again, Emmaline would be a much more dependable solution than even Veronica.” Fury cocked an eyebrow.

“The giant furball has a name?” Steve smiled, and Fury’s eyebrow creeped a little higher up his forehead.

“Yes, sir. The cat’s name is Emmaline, and from what little Thor was able to tell us about her, she lives in Queens. However, to respect her privacy, we haven’t asked any other questions.” Tony jumped in.

“I mean, she also pounced on Thor when he said she’s from Queens, so that was a bit of a deterrent to ask questions.” Fury’s other eyebrow joined the other on his forehead.

“So you’re telling my this thing pounced on the God of Thunder, and you want to team up with it?” Steve’s expression grew stormy.

“With all due respect, sir, she’s a she, not an it. And Thor didn’t actually try and do anything about being pounced on, so I imagine that as long as we respect her request for privacy, we’ll all be fine.”

“And how does everyone else feel about this idea?” Steve looked down the table. Tony opened his mouth, but, surprisingly, Bruce spoke first.

“I agree with Steve. We need a better failsafe for a Hulk-out than just Veronica.”

“Hey, what’s wrong with Veronica?!” Clint spoke up before Tony could continue.

“I agree with Bruce. We need that kind of power on our side. Besides, Thor said she’s not always that size, and what better ally than something like a cat?” Natasha nodded. Fury looked at Hill, who nodded, turning her screen toward him. Fury nodded slowly, then turned back to the table.

“Are you all agreeing to this?” Everyone looked to Tony and Sam. Tony looked up from his phone.

“You know, as much as it hurts to say it, Cap’s right. This thing packs a big punch, and having that kinda power on our side would make missions a hell of a lot easier.” He turned to Sam, who shrugged.

“Man, as long as she doesn’t knock me and the Tin Can out of the sky, I say do it.” Thor nodded.

“Fear not, Falcon. Emmaline is a fierce warrior, but she knows a friend from a foe. You need fear no harm from her.” Tony looked up from his phone.

“Thank, Pointbreak. Quick question: do we know how to get a hold of her when Oh Mighty God of the Hammer is off-world?” All eyes turned to Thor, who shrugged.

“I believe Emmaline to be a wielder of a cellular device. I will simply speak with her and ask her for her number.” Steve nodded, satisfied. Fury looked between the teammates, unimpressed as usual.

“Alright, you get the cat’s number, and we’ll add her to the system. Any other ridiculous requests before I report this meeting to the council?” When no one said anything, he stood, taking his papers with him. “Thor, I want that number before tomorrow.” Thor nodded, surprisingly agreeable despite being told what to do. Then again, Fury was a scary dude.

There was an audible exhale in the room once the door shut behind him, and Tony stood, stretching. “Well, this has been fun, but I’m going to order dinner. Chinese, anyone?” Everyone pitched in an opinion, a little too tired to banter. Thor excused himself, requesting a serving of everything before flying off, presumably towards Queens to get Emmaline’s number for Fury. Steve left the room, walking towards the windows that faced the river they’d been trying to save just that morning. Had it really only been just that morning? Steve thumbed at the old faded handprint soulmark wrapping its way around his wrist, smiling faintly at the memory of thick orange fur and green eyes. And for the first time in a long time, he found himself almost eager for a fight.


	2. The New Kid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter meets Emmaline, and makes a friend. Also, Stan Lee cameo.

“Peter Parker, please report to the principal’s office.” Peter groaned, knocking his head against the door of his locker. Yesterday had been an exhausting day with the fire demons, and he had homework due that he still hadn’t found time to do yet. And if Mr. Stark found out he was skipping classes to swing across town fighting crime, he’d be in a whole lot of trouble. God forbid if Aunt May found out.

“Please don’t be a detention, please don’t be a detention,” Peter begged under his breath, walking through the open door to Mr. Morita’s office.

“Principal Morita, sir, I’m really so.... orry?” Peter stopped, more than a little confused, and stared. Mr. Morita smiled, seated behind his desk across from a girl with violently orange curly hair. She twitched, looking up at him with startlingly green eyes. Peter coughed, shifting his weight.

“Mr. Parker, thank you for joining us. Ms. Wilbur, this is Peter Parker, a senior here. He will be your tour guide for the morning.”

“So... I’m not in trouble?” Mr. Morita chuckled.

“No, Peter. Not this time. Though I suggest you be a little more diligent in attending your classes if you want to avoid a phone call home.” Peter nodded, turning a little red as Ms. Wilbur smiled faintly at him.

“Yessir,” he mumbled. Mr. Morita nodded, turning back to the redhead across from him.

“Now then, Ms. Wilbur, if you will follow Mr. Parker, he’ll show you around the school.“ She nodded, standing up from the chair and swinging a red and black backpack over her shoulder. Peter choked on an inhale and started coughing as he recognized the print.

She had a Spiderman backpack.

“Dude, you okay?” She smacked him between the shoulder blades, jolting him forward. She was a lot stronger than she looked. Maybe it was the hair.

“Yeah” - cough “I’m fine. Just choked.” She raised an eyebrow, one side of a smile tipped up. “So, you a freshman?” She chuckled.

“No, I’m a senior. I was homeschooled for a really long time, but I finally convinced my parents to let me have at least one year here.” Peter nodded, trying to ignore the discomfort of being different. It wasn’t so much that he was still grieving, per say, as much as it was that not being normal.... well, it hurt.

“You’ve lost yours, haven’t you?” Peter tripped slightly, startled, staring at her with wide eyes.

“How’d you know?” She shrugged, veering away to put at least a foot’s worth of space between them.

“I’ve known enough grief to know how heavy it is.” She shrugged again. “Besides, I’ve read a lot of obituaries and police reports, and the Parker case was a rough one. Plus, you lost your Uncle Benjamin a couple years ago, right?” Peter nodded, speechless. She looked down at her shoelaces, then back up at him. “I was adopted. My biological parents died in an accident, and I went into a specialized Foster home. They decided to adopt me after a few months.” She smiled softly down at her shoes. “I got really lucky.” Peter nodded again, letting her take her time. She took a deep breath, then let it out as a sigh. “Dad’s a cop, and Mom’s a social worker for the state, so they know just how bad the world can be. Took me three weeks to convince them to let me come here.” The conversation dropped off, as they walked through the halls, comfortably silent, except for when Peter pointed out different places of interest in the school, or when Ms. Wilbur asked a question. Peter lost himself in his thoughts, and she let him wander.

“I don’t remember much about my parents.” She looked at him, saying nothing. Peter shrugged a little, trying not to seem as hollow as he felt. “I know they were good, and I know we were happy, but there isn’t much else to miss, really. But Uncle Ben,” he pushed a breath in and out, forcing himself not to cry. “Uncle Ben’s death hurt. A lot.” He stopped, looking down at the tiled floor. She bumped his shoulder, and nodded. They walked the rest of the way in comfortable silence. They stopped at the door to the chemistry lab, unsure of what to say. Then...

“I’m glad you’re here.” Peter blurted, then turned a faint shade of pink, more than a little embarrassed to have said that out loud. She smiled a little, her eyes get a little brighter.

“Me too.” She grasped the door handle, and he panicked.

“Wait!” She stopped, looking at him with one eyebrow high than the other. “Can I have your phone number?” Her face fell a little, and her hand dropped from the handle.

“Look, Peter,” she murmured, looking at his chin instead of making eye contact. “You’re really sweet, and I’m sure you’d be a lot of fun, but I don’t make friends easily and I’m not looking for a relationship right now, so-” Peter’s eyes got really wide, and he threw his hands out.

“What?! No no no, that’s not what I meant!! I just... You’re new here, and you don’t know anybody yet, so I figured you could use some friends!!” He stammered a bit, more than a little pink. “I don’t want you to be my girlfriend. Not that you’d be a bad girlfriend, it’d just be awkward. Not cause you’re awkward, you’re not, you’re actually really nice, but it’s just that-“

“Peter.” He stopped, still a little defensive and trying to ignore the fact that she could probably beat him to a pulp in an alley on the way home, spider strength or not. Her face lightened, and he wondered what it would take to get her to smile. Maybe he’d ask Mr. Stark for help. “It’s okay. Here.” She pulled his phone from the side pocket of his backpack, and added her number. She handed it back, still smiling that kind of half moon smile that was more rain-covered window than sunny day. Peter grinned, holding his phone like he was worried about dropping it. Which he very well might. She nodded grasping the doorknob again. “See ya, Parker.” And with that, she disappeared.

Later, sitting at a bus stop on the home, Peter pulled out his cracked phone and typed away madly, smiling like crazy despite the cold.

“You textin’ your soulmate, kid?” Peter looked up, startled, at the old man in the corner with a pair of aviators, a thick mustache, and a wrinkled Time magazine.

“No,” replied Peter, shaking his head a little and trying to ignore the way his soulmark throbbed on his collarbone. Wade had probably gotten himself killed. Again. “It’s just a friend.”

Peter @ UNKNOWN NUMBER:  
Hey, I just realized I never got your name.  
3:47pm.

UNKNOWN NUMBER @ Peter:  
Emmaline. My name is Emmaline.  
4:02pm.


	3. Rooftops

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mostly fluff and emotional bonding. Steve’s got the jitters, Clint makes a friend, and Natasha learns a little about her fellow red head.

It had been two months since the fire in Manhattan, and they’d yet to have a real mission, the kind that got their adrenaline pumping and made it feel like they were making a difference. They hadn’t made any progress with finding Bucky yet, either. Steve had destroyed three reinforced punching bag, and had put holes in two different cement walls before Tony threatened to pick him up in the Iron Man suit and throw him out the window. So instead, he ran. Mile after mile, feet pounding into the cement in an echo of his heartbeat. He ran for six hours without stopping, making his way around the edge of Manhattan island over and over again as the sun set behind the New Jersey skyline on the other side of the Hudson. And by the time the sky changed from blue to it’s nightly smog-choked vermillion hue, he had slowed, making his way instead to the roof of an abandoned apartment building in Brooklyn. Nothing had changed. The restlessness still wound it’s way around his spine, and the itch in his neck and at the back of his knees was still there.

_**It’s called anxiety, Cap.**_ Steve jumped, spinning into a fighting position at the sound. There was no one there. A chuckling noise vibrated across the rooftop, and Steve’s eyes narrowed. Then from the shadowed slipped... a very orange cat. _**It’s just me, Captain. You can put the guns away.**_Steve’s shoulders relaxed, dropping into a crouch as the cat came closer. She rubbed against his shins, then against his outstretched hand. His expression scrunched in confusion.

“Emmaline?” Another chuckle vibrated as she sat on her hind legs, looked it at his with green eyes.

_**Really, Cap, how many other ginger tabby cats do you encounter in your job? Should I be jealous?**_ Steve blushed, dropping onto his rear.

“But last time I saw you, you were - “

_**The size of a motherfucking zeppelin?**_ Steve’s eyebrows rose, remembering Fury’s words two months previously during the rather... unconventional debriefing.

“How’d you know?” Her head tilted to one side, and Steve felt as though he were back in his army days, being analyzed by his commanding officer.

_**This form has a lot of perks, Cap. Because I can’t talk out loud, I can project my thoughts to other people.**_ Her head tipped from one side to the other. **_I don’t know why, but for the first time, if I focus, I can hear what you hear. Just you, though._** Heat spread across Steve’s cheekbones, and he looked down at his shoes. The brush of soft fur against the back of his hands pulled him from his embarrassment. He crossed his legs, and smiled a little as she made herself comfortable in the basket of his lap. Steve trailed his fingers through her fur, feeling a little of the stress and the itchiness in his joints fade. His fingers paused on her spine as he was reminded of what had started this interaction in the first place. A sigh pulled him from his thoughts again, and he resumed his touches. **_That uneasiness, the tingle in your joints, like you just can’t sit still, that’s called anxiety, Steve._** She rolled a little in his lap to let him rub her underside. **_I’m not surprised you have it. You’ve been through war, and now you’re just supposed to sit still and be okay with doing nothing._** Her voice in his mind faded, and a comfortable silence settled between them. The sky didn’t change, and Steve’s phone stayed silent. Another quiet, uneventful night in New York City. Slowly, Steve felt the muscles in his body release, one by one, and the itch faded off to nothing. Steve carefully adjusted himself around her to be able to lay down without jostling her, and for a split second he thought he could see her smile. And for the first time in a while, he slept peacefully, without dreams.

When 4am came too soon, and his phone alarm sounded it angry wail, Steve woke enough to turn it off and to rub the sleep from his eyes. He was, somehow, no longer on the ground, but on an old lounge chair. The sunrise hid behind the building on the Jersey shore, and the only sign that the night hadn’t been a dream was the orange fur that clung to his clothes. He smiled, and resolved to keep at least this little piece of comfort for himself.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When it was his turn to be on patrol, Clint, unsurprisingly, spent most of his on Stark’s roof. It got very boring up there on nights when everything stayed quiet. So he sat, his back leaning against one of the window washing machines, and ate a sandwich. His bow lay within easy reach, and his quiver was still slung across his back. He took his hearing aids out, rubbing at the tender skin behind his ear where the rubber tended to chafe a little.

**_Now how do you expect to be wary of your surroundings without your hearing aids in?_** Clint sighed.

“Wanda, if you’re gonna sneak up on me, at least let me see you so I don’t accidentally shoot you.” A chuckle rippled across his mind.

**_Well then, Barton, if that’s how you’re gonna be..._** And from the shadows off to his right, a very ginger tabby slid into sight. Clint’s eyes widened.

“It’s you.” A scoff puffed as she sat at his feet.

**_For fuck’s sake, Clint, I thought you were one of the smart ones. Of course it’s me._** Clint chuckled, and tried to ignore the sudden urge to touch her. Her tail twitched, and he could’ve sworn he saw her eyes roll. She made her way gracefully to his side, and settled herself against his side. Half a smile slid across his face, and his hand twitched in his lap. He held still as a statue, and her chuckled echoed across his mind. **_I’m not gonna break, birdbrain. And as much as I appreciate that you don’t want to offend me, you can pet me like a normal cat._** Clint chuckled, raising his hand to stroke from between her ears down to her bushy tail. A pleasant sensation made its way up his spine to rest warmly across his shoulders, and her purr vibrated through his hand. 

“So what’s the deal with the mojo?” A snort slide across his brain, interrupting her purring for half a second.

**_I really don’t think telepathy counts as mojo, Clint. But yeah, I got a bit of mojo_**. She roll into his leg, leaving her blonde underbelly open for scritches. He chuckled, trailing his fingers gently across her midsection. _**I can transmit my thoughts and feelings, but that’s mostly it. **_She paused, and he felt her still in anticipation under his fingers. **_Who’s Laura?_** Clint froze, then he growled, grabbing the scruff of her neck and raising her up to eye level, ignoring the hissing displeasure that she echoed across his mind.

“How do you know about Laura?” He hissed, shaking her a little and ignore the angry yowl that he could feel.

**_For the love of Thor, Clint, put me down, or so help me I’ll wake Cap up and have him MAKE you put me down_**.

“Not until you tell me how you found out about Laura.”

_**Put me down and I’ll TELL you.**_ He slowly lowered her to the ground in front of him, suddenly very aware of what he’d just done, but still very angry and defensive. She fluffed her fur, shaking herself out and settling rigidly in front of him, ready to run.

**_When I focus, I can hear what Steve hears. He asked you how Laura was doing, and you said the pregnancy was going well. She’s obviously not one of the Avengers, so I was wondering who she was._** Clint deflated, settling back against the machine.

“Laura’s my sister. She’s due in about two months, and I haven’t seen her a while.” He sighed, scrubbing at his face and suddenly very heavy and tired. “She’d been in the foster system with me. When SHIELD hired me, the first thing I did was find her and offer to pull her out. I adopted her as my sister, and ever since then she’s been all I’ve had.” He looked down at his lap and closed his eyes against the sudden moisture there. After a second or two, a warm weight settled on his lap. He opened his eyes to find her curled across his thighs. His finger settled across her ribcage. “Anyway, she’s married to a SHIELD agent now, but she’s a strong girl. Quiet, and soft, but strong.”

_**You’re allowed to worry about her still, you know**. _He sighed.

“Yeah, I know.” He scratched between her ears and chuckled a little at the purring that started up again. “Hey, how’d you figure out you could hear through Cap’s ears?"

_**The day after we met. I was practicing on my projection, and I started hearing Tony and Sam arguing about whether or not pineapple belongs on pizza.**_ Clint chuckled, remembering the debate and the resulting food fight.

“So is it just Steve you can hear through?” A shrug rippled her shoulders.

** _So far, yeah. No idea why. Though maybe… Can we try something?_ **

“Sure thing, pussycat. Whatcha thinkin’?”

**_I want you to put your hearing aids back in._** Clint’s eyebrows lifted a little, but he reached into his pocket and put his hearing aids back on.

“Now what.”

**_Hold on a sec, birdbrain, I’m listening._** He chuckled, and she stilled instantly.

“You okay, pussycat?” He stroked through her fur, enjoying the softness between his fingers.

** _Holy shit, Clint, I can hear your voice!!_ **

“Well no shit, Sherlock, you’re not the deaf one.”

**_No, you idiot, I mean I can hear through you!_** He stilled.

“Well shit.”

**_Yup_**. They listened to the city in silence for a while, both a little in awe.

“What’s it like, hearing through someone else’s ears?” She hummed.

**_It’s kinda like listening to a radio. You can hear everything else like normal, but then you can hear extra stuff._ **She shifted a little in his lap._** It’s how I knew where to find you. You told Steve earlier that’s you’d be on the roof if he needed anything, and Tony told you not to shoot anymore pigeons. **_They both chuckled. The silence wrapped around them comfortably, and they passed the night that way, guarding the city until dawn came. When the sun rose, Clint sighed, standing slowly to let her slide off his lap.

“See ya later, pussycat.” Her chuckle skipped across his brain, and he smiled.

**_See ya later, birdbrain._** And with that she disappeared into the open ventilation shaft on the corner of the roof. Clint chuckled, and made his way to the elevator, whistling “What’s New Pussycat” under his breath. 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Clint, naturally, told Natasha all about it, so when it came to be her turn for patrol, she made her way to the roof. Neither of them had thought it particularly important to tell Tony that Emmaline was in his ventilation system; she was, after all, their newest ally, and it wasn’t as if anyone had anything to hide from her. Besides, if Tony closed of the ventilation system, Clint would lose his obstacle course, and neither of them wanted that. So when night came, and the ginger tabby made her way to Natasha’s side at the edge of the roof, she wasn’t particularly surprised.

“You do realize you could just do this in your human body, right?” Natasha murmured softly, her eyes fixed on the sprawling city beneath them. She leaned forward, resting her forearms on the flat cement wall of the edge.

**_Does my voice in your head worry you, Natasha?_** It was said quietly, without judgment and without contempt.

“Let’s just say my head isn’t a place you should want to be.”

**_And yet here I am, in your mind._** Emmaline bumped her head against Nat’s arm, worming her way to lounge between her arms. One corner of Nat’s mouth tipped up, and she combed her fingers through the fur on Emmaline's side. A thrill skittered down Nat’s spine, and she felt her muscles relax a little as she scratched between the feline’s ears.

“You know I could just push you off the edge right now.” A chuckle rippled across her mind as Emmaline flicked her ear against Nat’s fingers.

**_Yeah, you wouldn’t do that._** Nat stroked down her spine, listening to the quiet purr that rumbled from her chest. **_Besides, I could grow to the size of a bus by the time I hit the ground, and you know cats always land on their feet._**

“But you’re not actually a cat.”

**_Okay, now that was just rude._** Emmaline rolled to her belly, and caught Natasha’s hand between her paws before letting her resume her touches. **_For all intensive purposes, while I’m in this form, I AM a cat. I have the same instincts, the same pleasures, and the same senses._** She paused, closing her eyes a little at the gentle touches across her belly. **_It’s like changing your clothes. Sometimes I wear my human skin, sometimes I wear my feline fur, but either way I’m still me._** Nat smiled a little more, looking out to the city. Minutes passed in almost silence, as they listened to the noise of the city wind through the streets below.

**_I wasn’t born this way._** Nat looked at her suddenly, one eyebrow arched. **_What? If this is going to be an actual interrogation, I might as well tell you everything_**. Nat didn’t look the least bit embarrassed, though she did feel a little frustrated at having been caught. A sigh slid through her thoughts as Emmaline rolled to her stomach, still relaxed, but ready to leave if needed. **_Natasha, I know this is a pretty unusual situation, but if you want to know something, you can just ASK me. If I don’t want me to know, I’ll tell you. You and your team want me to help you, but that means you need to trust me. Which is why I’m trying to show you that I trust you._** Nat’s shoulders dropped a little, and her hands settled against the feline’s ribcage. After a few seconds, Emmaline continued her story.

** _When I was four, my parents took me on a trip to China with them. My dad had business there, and they wanted to make it a family trip. On our way there, we went hiking in the Himalayan mountains and found a beautiful village. We had run out of water, we were lost, and I needed to use the bathroom. They wouldn’t let us in._ **

** _While my parents were trying to speak to the man at the gate, I walked around the wall that surrounded the village, wiggled my way through a hole I found, and ran through the village trying to find a bathroom. I found one in one of the houses, and used it. When I was done, curiosity got the better of me and I went looking through the house. I found an open box of blue crystals, and picked one up to look at it._** ** **

**_Black bubbling stuff spread up my hand, and I couldn’t drop the crystal. It didn’t hurt, so I didn’t scream until it reached my neck and face, and then I couldn’t see anything. The black stuff got hard and I couldn’t move. Then... I think my heart stopped. I blacked out for awhile, and when I woke up, the black stuff was breaking off and a couple people were yelling._** Emmaline buried her nose between her paws. **It took a couple minutes for my parents to calm down enough to understand what had happened, and only a few days to figure out what that crystal had done to me. **Natasha stroked her head, rubbing gently with the pads of her fingers**. **_**Took me six hours to turn back into myself the first time. After that, it just felt like a way to escape, to be something different. First I learned how to change quickly, then how to change my size.**_ She paused, relaxing into the concrete and rippling with the moving weight of Natasha’s hand. _**My parents died while I was still in that village in China. I never went to the funeral. I left a few years ago, moved to Queens, was adopted by a couple who have powers a little like mine, and I was homeschooled until this year.**_ She stretched into an arch, then settled into a sitting position looking into Natasha’s face.

_**I didn’t agree to help your team because I want something, or because I’m a spy, or because I have some secret wish to catch Captain America in his underpants and post pictures on the internet.**_ Nat’s mouth twitched. _**I’m here because I want to help, and I’d like help getting better with what I can do. And I mean, y’all are pretty damn cool.** _She stretched up and rubbed her forehead against Nat’s chin. Nat chuckled, scratching between the feline’s ears. Emmaline purred, closing her eyes, then sighed.

_**I wish I could stay till dawn, but I have homework to do, and a test tomorrow, so I need to go home. I’ll see you around.**_ And with that, she leapt off the edge onto the roof, trotting away to the vent in the corner. Nat turned to the skyline, smiling a little, and wondered when her life had gotten so strange that a ginger tabby cat could make it feel like the future was worth hoping for.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

_**Tell me about Bucky.**_ The request and the voice came suddenly, and Steve almost dropped his coffee cup. He whirled around, looking towards the kitchen counter of his apartment where the ginger tabby sat.

“How did you even get in here?” She chuckled, jumping down from the counter and coiling herself around his ankles.

**_Nuh uh uh, not telling you. You’ll just tell Tony, then I won’t be able to come up and visit anytime I want._** Steve smiled, reaching down and scooping her into his arms. He carried her to the table, where a pile of pancakes, sausage, and bacon sat beside a bowl of fruit. _**You cook all this yourself, hot stuff?**_ Steve blushed a little, setting her on the table and going back to the kitchen for another plate.

“No, I brought it up from the common kitchen. “ He piled some cut up pieces of sausage on the second plate and slid it to her. She settled into a sort of squat, chewing at the sausage. A few minutes passed in relative quiet, until Steve had finished about half his plate.

**_Will you tell me about Bucky?_** Steve sighed, setting utensils down to scrub his face with his hands.

“He was captured by Hydra in- “

**_No, not that._** Steve looked up at her in surprise.**_ Steve, I know all about that stuff, I’ve done my research. I don’t care about the Bucky that Hydra made. I want to know about the Bucky you loved. The stuff that the Smithsonian skipped over._** Steve blushed, looking down at his plate. A sad smile spread across his face.

“Buck was a little shit. He gave me a hard time like it was his entire purpose in life. That, and to keep me alive. He dragged me out of more alley fights than I can even count.” They both chuckled. “I met him when we were in school. I’d gotten into a fight with some kid cause he was picking on some dame who wouldn’t give him the time o’ day. Buck pulled me out by my wrist, and it felt like fire and ice were running down my spine, and I straight up couldn’t breathe for like five minutes.” Steve rubbed at the handprint on his wrist, smiling wistfully. “Bucky clocked the guy in the face and knocked him out flat. Then he insisted on standing with me and making sure I was okay. I got damn close to passing out, and I grabbed Buck’s arm to try and keep myself standing. Turns out, I’d grabbed his mark too. After that, we were always together. But the thing is, he thought I wasn’t into macs, and I thought he was only into dames, so we never tried to be anything more than friends.

“He was a handsome devil, and he knew it. Buck got dates like crazy, and half the time he’d drag me along for a double date with his dame’s friend. Thing is, I found out later that he'd go find lesbian girls and offer to take them on a “double date” so they could spend time together.” His smile grew, and he shook his head. “ I asked him about it once, when we were out on a mission with the Howlies and sharing a tent by ourselves in a forest in France. He just shrugged and said he’d always known that he liked macs and dames the same. Guess nowadays you’d call that bisexual. Thing is, back then, that was - “ He puffed out a breath, scrubbing his face with his hands. She watched him patiently, waiting for him to find his words again. Steve sighed again, hanging his head a little. “Folks disappeared quick if they got caught like that. And they didn’t come back either.” Steve took a swig of his orange juice like it was liquor he could still get drunk on. “The army was easier. People turned a blind eye, cause soldiers were hard to replace, and good secretaries and nurses were even harder to come by.” He trailed off, lost in his memories. Then he shook his head, chasing away a little of the pain.

“I’d always loved Bucky, but I never thought he could love me like he loved the dames he brought to his room at night. I mean, I was a whelp of a kid, always sick, couldn’t listen worth shit. I always figured feeling like that was just like that, y’know? Just another thing wrong with me. Then I changed, got all big and healthy, and I figured it’d gone away.” He smiled a little, looking back down at his plate.

**_How’d you find out you were still into Bucky?_** He could hear the smile in her voice, even inside his head. Steve chuckled, more than a little embarrassed. _**Come on Steve, please? You can tell me**_. She whined, and he laughed.

“Okay, okay!” He shook his head, his face still a sweet shade of pink. “I’d been into Peggy Carter since I met her. Dame was like dynamite and concrete wrapped into one, and she didn’t take my shit. Then, when I went dropped out of the plane, rescued Bucky, faced Schmidt, all I could think of was that I had to get him out, I had to get him home. Then later, when we’d gotten home, and it was all over, I just looked at him and realized I still loved him the way I always had. It took me like two seconds to be okay with that, and like three seconds to lay a kiss on him.” His face flamed, and she laughed.

**_Lemme guess, he liked it?_** Steve laughed then, nice and loud.

“Well, the other Howlies spent two days after that making fun of us and complaining about the noise we’d made.” They laughed for a little while, relaxing into comfortable silence. Then -

“Captain, Director Fury is requesting your presence in Boss’ office immediately.” Steve stiffened.

“FRIDAY, would you please delete the footage up until just before Emmaline came in.”

“I’m afraid that would be incredibly suspicious, Captain. However, I will delete the audio recording, if that would make you more comfortable.” Steve relaxed a little.

“Thank you, FRIDAY, I would appreciate that.”

“Of course, Captain. Also, if I may, Miss Emmaline, I believe Sir would greatly benefit from a brief visit in the near future.” Emmaline nodded a little, then got up to leave. She stopped at the elevator, turning her head a little to look back at Steve.

_**Thank you for trusting me, Steve. You’ll find him. You’ll see.**_ She disappeared into the elevator, and Steve didn’t move, worried about Fury and suddenly wondering if she knew just what kind of trouble she could be in if she got caught.


	4. Blue and Green Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter, not gonna lie, but the two after it are short, so oh well  
Fury tells Steve and Tony about a mission to bust a trafficking ring, Tony meets Emmaline and they hit it off (kinda). Tony meets his new, rather scary PA, and the Strike team decides wrestling with a tiger isn’t worth the injury. Mission.
> 
> Warning: canon-typical violence, low-level panic attack

“Thank you for joining us, Rogers.” Fury sat in an office chair by the window, looking deceptively relaxed for a man who probably didn’t even know the meaning of the word. Tony, on the other hand, was spinning back in forth in the chair behind a desk covered in papers, bits of metal, and different sized pencils. His left hand twirls a thick copper wire.

“Hey Tony, since when do you have an office?”

“Oh this isn’t actually my office. It’s Peps. I’m just borrowing it while she’s on her honeymoon.” Tony’s right hand rubs at his chest, just to the left of the arch reactor, where Steve knew a gray soulmark hovered over his heart.

“How’s she doing with... what’s his name?”

“Daniel? Yeah, he’s okay. He’s a writer and drives her kinda crazy, but she loves him, so I guess it’s okay.” Steve snorted.

“Yeah, well, she’s got a lot of practice being patient. I mean, she put up with you for ages, so I’m pretty sure she’s got it covered.”

“Y’know what, old man,” Tony challenged, pointed at Steve with the wire like a sword. Fury interrupted before the banter could escalate into a wrestling match.

“Alright, ladies, you can fight later, I got shit to do today.” Steve leaned against the closed door, trying to ignore the worry that rested at the bottom of his spine. Fury leaned forward, focusing on Steve. “We found a human trafficking base in Spain run by the Ten Rings.” Tony flinched, cutting himself with copper wire and cursing under his breath. Fury ignored him, and all of a sudden, Steve realized his fingers had curled into fists at the blatant display of Fury’s uncaring.This was _his_ team, dammit, not Fury’s. _I sure hope Emmaline is listening,_ Steve thought.

“You want us to take it out.” It wasn’t a question, and Fury nodded. “Why?”

“Why? Captain, this is a terrorist group we’re dealing with. Besides, since when do you care?” Steve doesn’t answer immediately. He looks at Fury’s face, instead focuses on the air vent above Fury’s head that hovers in his peripheral vision, and the small tuft of orange fur that flicked back and forth through the grates. Instead of responding, Steve turned to Tony, who looked like he was struggling to breathe. In a heartbeat, Steve was crouched at his side, a hand on his shoulder.

“Tony, you gotta breathe, man. Come on, in and out.” Tony huffed, half chuckle half sob, leaning his head against the desk.

“Excuse me, Captain?” Steve shook his head at her voice.

“Not now, doll.”

“My apologies, Captain, but Dr. Banner sent me to help Mr. Stark.” Steve looked up at the doorway, startled. A girl with ginger hair pulled into a neat bun and glasses stood in the doorway. He nodded, a little dumbstruck, eyes flicking to Fury, who looked rather bored. She made her way to Tony’s side, heels clicking against the tiled floor. Waving Steve away, she turned Tony’s chair gently towards her.

“Tony? My name is Maddy. I need you to breathe for me, okay?” Tony puffed out a breathe, grabbing her upper arm. Steve’s heart dropped a little in disappointment at the glimpse of her blue eyes and the sound of her name.

**_Steve, I need you to talk to Fury and get the details for that mission. Tony’s going to want to be active after this, and helping with the mission would do him good._** Steve froze, watching as Tony leaned his head against the woman’s shoulder, chest heaving. **_Steve, you need to take this mission. Ask him who he wants on board._** He shook his head, crossing his arms and turning to face Fury.

“Where’s the base?” Fury tipped an eyebrow up, but ignored the sudden change in attitude.

“Sevilla, on the edge of San Geronimo. They’ve got a deal with the gypsies there. The gypsies don’t go to the authorities, they get to live.” Fury tossed a packet of papers to Steve. “We got one to squeal. His daughter got nabbed, and he wants her back.” Steve flipped through the pages, trying not to rip the file in his anger.

“Small crew?” Fury nodded. “Who do you want on this one?”

“Alpha Strike Team, you, and the furball.” Steve raised an eyebrow, his heartbeat choking him. He looked at Tony, who had finally relaxed back into his chair. The ginger-haired woman had stood, writing Tony’s vitals on a StarkPad for Bruce later. She finished, walking back towards the door.

“Take it easy, Tony.” She turned to Steve, a hint of a smile tipping her mouth “If this happens again, please have FRIDAY inform Dr. Banner. Have a good day, Captain.” She nodded at Fury. “Director.” And with that she disappeared behind the closing door. Steve shook his head, turning back to Tony with his arms folded.

“You think we should take this one, Tony” He looked up at Steve, a little bewildered.

“Hell yeah, we should do this.” They locked eyes, somehow on the same page for the first time in... well, ever. Tony might not be the best guy for an undercover mission, but he sure as hell deserved to do some damage to whoever they managed to bring back.

“You wanna pilot this one?” Tony’s eyes lit up a little at the idea of being involved.

“I thought you’d never ask!” Steve smiled a little, turning back to face Fury.

“Has Thor gotten back with Emmaline’s phone number yet?” Fury snorted, heaving to his feet.

“The damn god’s been avoiding me. You’re gonna need to have a little chat with him.” Steve nodded, ignoring the snort that echoed across his mind.

_ **Ask him when he wants to launch the team.** _

“When do you want us ready for the briefing?” Fury made his way to the door, still hobbling a little from his near-death experience with Hydra.

“I’m sending y’all out Friday at 1900. Hill will brief you before hand, and Rogers, you’ll be responsible for briefing the Strike team.” Fury looked Steve in the face. “I want the cat’s contact information by morning, Rogers.”

“Yes sir.” Nodding, Fury left and closed the door behind him.

“Wha-“ Steve stopped Tony with a hand in the air.

“FRIDAY, where is Fury right now?”

“Director Fury is currently in the elevator, passing the third floor on his way to the lobby.”

“Scan the room for bugs, please.” Tony’s eyebrows rose at the confidence with which Steve gave directions to the AI.

“Of course, sir.” A moment passed. “There are no recording devices of any kind in this room, Captain. However, you do have a guest waiting to speak with you.”

“Thank you Friday. Please mute the following conversation.”

“Consider it done, Captain.” Steve turned to Tony, whose face was split with a very wide grin.

“Y’know, I gotta say Cap, that was quite a turn on.” Steve rolled his eyes. “So who’s the “guest”? You got a hot girlfriend you been hiding?” Steve smirked a little, looking towards the corner.

“Emmaline, you can come down now.” The vent above clicked open, and a surprisingly clean tabby cat leapt down, landing gracefully on the tile floor. Tony popped out of his chair like a rocket.

“You’re telling me she’s been sitting in the vents above Patchy the Pirate’s head the whole time?!?” Steve ignored him, reaching down to scoop her into his arms and cuddle her against his chest. Tony’s jaw dropped.

_**Goodness, TinCan. Cat got your tongue?**_ Tony jumped, banging his shin against the desk and exploding into expletives. _**Guess not**_. Steve started laughing, letting her drop onto the disaster-covered desk.

“So, you coming on the mission, doll?” She sat onto the desk, looking at him.

_**Of course. I mean, Cueball isn’t exactly going to take no for an answer, is he?**_ Steve shrugged, tucking his hands into his pockets. Tony flopped back into his office chair, his hands twitching with restraint in his lap. _**For fuck’s sake, Tony, just pet me already. I’m not going to eat you**_. She leapt onto Tony’s lap, ignoring his yelp and Steve’s laughter as she settled onto his thighs. _**Hey, Steve, you should probably go get Thor.**_ Steve nodded, still chuckling lightly. Tony gripped the arms of his chair, staring down at the feline in his lap.

“FRIDAY, would you tell Thor to meet us in the team kitchen?”

“Thor is currently in the team kitchen, looking for his pop tarts, Captain.” Steve sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“FRIDAY, who took his pop tarts?” Emmaline piped up before FRIDAY could respond.

_**Clint’s in the vents above the kitchen, eating them and trying not to giggle.**_ Steve snorted.

“I’m sorry, how do you know that?” Tony interjected, still holding the arms of the chair like a life raft. She twitched.

_**Tell you what, Mr. Curiosity, I’ll make you a deal: you get over whatever’s in your head and pet me like a normal cat until our conversation with Thor is done, and then I will let you ask all the questions you like. Deal?**_ Tony didn’t even stop to think about it.

“Okay fine, but don’t bite me.” Tony pulled his arm from its death grip on the chair and stroked from between her ears all the way to the tip of her tail. A genuine smile peaked through as her purr vibrated his lap. Steve swallowed a grin.

“FRIDAY, will you ask Barton to come here please? And put Thor’s pop tarts on the weekly grocery list?”

“Of course, Captain.” A minute or so later, the vent slid open and Clint dropped - less than gracefully - into the waiting office chair. Still eating Thor’s pop tarts, and covered in dust.

_**Clint, sweetheart, if you want to avoid having Mjolnir on your chest for a week again, you should probably stay out of Thor’s pop tarts.**_ Clint, to his benefit, barely flinched.

“Snitch,” he accused cheerfully, and continued eating.

“Wait, how come Birdbrain’s covered in dirt, but you’re perfectly clean?” Tony piped up. Emmaline adjusted her position, digging her claws into his pants just enough that he felt it.

_**Nuh uh uh, questions AFTER the conversation.**_ Tony rolled his eyes, burrowing his fingers into the fur along her back. Clint snorted. Steve snatched the box of pop tarts from Clint’s hand, ignoring his cry of protest.

“Clint, I don’t want to have to peel you off the training room floor when Thor finds pop tart crumbs all over your suit. If you want treats, ask FRIDAY to order them, got it?” Clint rolled his eyes, snatching the box back.

“Fine, I’ll put them back.” He gave a dramatic bow towards Emmaline, who twitched her tail in amusement. “A pleasure as always, Pussycat.” Steve smacked the back of his head on his way out the door.

“FRIDAY, if you could please send Thor up now?”

“Of course, Captain.” Steve turned to Tony, trying to swallow his grin, but he just looked constipated.

“You okay Cap?” Tony’s eyebrow reached up his forehead, one hand still stroking through Emmaline’s fur, the other now loosely gripping the arm of the chair. Steve looked down at his feet and shook his head, letting a smile break through.

“Y’know, I think that’s the longest I’ve ever seen you sit still without being unconscious.”

“Cap, if it weren’t for the fact that I’ve been graced with the presence of a fuzzy killing machine on my lap, I’d come over there and smack you.” Steve snorted just as Thor threw the door open.

“Captain! How may I be of assistance?” Thor’s smile widened as he caught sight of Emmaline on Tony’s lap. “Emmaline! You have made friends with the Man of Iron!”

_**Yeah, Thunderthighs. Listen, why didn’t you tell me Fury wants my phone number?**_ Steve’s eyebrows lifted and his lips twitched with the ghost of a smile as Thor’s face shifted in seconds from joyous to fearful. Her laughter flickered across his mind._** Thor, I’m not going to kill you for asking for a way to get a hold of me. If I’m going to work with y’all, you’re gonna need a way to tell me when you need my help.** _She swished her tail back and forth against the arm of Tony’s chair.**_ So here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to give Steve my number, and he’s gonna keep it on his old burner phone._**

“Hold up.” Tony threw a hand up, pulling the fingers of his other hand through her fur almost absentmindedly. “Why does Cap get your number? Why don’t you just move into the Tower and train with us?”

_**Cap gets my number because, no offense Steve, but even if he wanted to use my phone number to find out more about me, I highly doubt he’d know how.**_ Steve smiled and nodded a head in her direction. _**And I’m not moving in cause I have a life outside of the Avengers, and I need it to stay that way.**_

“Yeah, but if you lived here, we could work with you all the time, and, bonus, you could get some practice with those powers of yours.”

_**If it’s such a great deal, why doesn’t Peter live here?**_ Tony froze, then leapt out of the chair snarling, an iron grip clutching Emmaline by the scruff of her neck. Both Steve and Thor shouted, starting forward, Thor’s hand outstretched towards the door.

“How do you know about him?” Tony’s face was pink turning purple as she swung in his grasp.

_**Wow, touchy subject, huh?**_. Tony opened his mouth to respond, but the door swinging open cut his sentence off.

“Put Ms. Emmaline down, Stark. Now.” Maddy stood in the doorway, Mjolnir in one hand and the other hand propped on one hip, ready for battle. Thor reached for Mjolnir, but dropped his hand at the look of fiery rage Maddy sent his way. Tony let go of Emmaline, letting her drop to the ground. She landed gracefully on her feet, prancing over towards Steve’s feet to wind around his ankles. Maddy rolled her eyes, handing Mjolnir to an awed and more than slightly fearful Thor, and walked over to scoop Emmaline up off the floor.

“Ms. Maddy - “

“I’m sorry, who are you, exactly?” Tony cut in, gesturing with the copper wire again now that his hands were free. Maddy slapped on a frighteningly fake smile, stroking Emmaline’s fur gently.

“My name is Madeline Smith, Mr. Stark, and I’m your personal assistant.”

“Uh, no you’re not.”

“Yes I am.”

“No, I don’t _have_ a personal assistant. I don’t _need_ a personal assistant. That’s what FRIDAY is for.”

“No, FRIDAY is your technical assistant and your personal security manager. _Her_ job is to run the tower from a purely technical point of view. _My_ job, Mr. Stark, is to keep you alive and healthy.”

“You know what, at this point I actually don’t care why you’re here. What I do care about is how the ginger furball knows about Peter.” Maddy’s head tipped to one side in sarcastic confusion, and faint warning bells went off in the back of Steve’s head.

“I’m sorry, you mean Peter Parker, whose name is on your website under the list of interns at Stark Industries? The same Peter Parker who happens to also be on the honor roll for Midtown High School and who has point-blank told his classmates that he’s friends with Spiderman? Who also happens to have your name and personal contact information listed as his secondary emergency contact?” Her smile dropped, and Tony took a step back at the fire in her eyes. “Mr. Stark, you’re supposed to be a world changing genius, so I suggest you use that damn head that God put on your shoulders and use it to think instead of accusing a potential ally of having ulterior motives.” She looked down at the cat curled comfortably in her arms. “And you should know damn well not to push people’s buttons.” Emmaline yawned dramatically, and Maddy rolled her eyes with a snort. “Yeah yeah, go home. You’ve got things to do before the mission on Friday.” She lifted the feline up to the open vent, and the ginger tabby slipped away.

_**Bye Steve, bye Thor. See ya later, TinCan**_. Maddy turned, all the fire replaced with cold indifference.

“Now, Mr. Stark, Dr. Banner would like to see you in the lab to go over several findings from a geothermal read that came in this morning. Captain, you have a two-hour training session with the Alpha Strike team in Hangar C in twenty five minutes, and Thor, there’s a raven sitting on the kitchen counter with a letter from Asgard.” And with that, she disappeared out the door. The men looked at each other, dumbfounded. Without speaking, each wandered away to deal with their business, feeling slightly afraid and more than a little inadequate in the face of the future and two ginger women.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Friday evening at 1800 found Fury standing at the mouth of the chunky military-grade plane, waiting. The Strike team boarded single-file, equipment bags slung over one shoulder, not daring to make eye contact with the Director. Tony walked in next, surprisingly early, hands empty, sunglasses perched on his nose and smirk locked and loaded. The minutes ticked by slowly. 1900 on the dot, the door to the elevator swung open and Steve strode out, duffle bag on one shoulder and what looked like a tiger trotting cheerfully at his side. Fury’s eyebrows lifted a little as they came closer, and the casual conversation inside the plane stuttered to a stop.

“Fury.” Steve nodded respectfully, adjusting the bag on his shoulder. Fury ignored him, instead holding eye contact with the feline. Emmaline held his gaze, unblinking.

“Is this the newest Avenger?” Emmaline said nothing, simply tipping her head to one side.

“Yes sir. She expressed concern with the idea of SHIELD having custody of her information, and requested that I be her only direct contact for the moment.” One of Fury’s eyebrows raised.

“I expect her to cooperate, Captain. This is a trial run. Understood?”

“Understood sir.” Emmaline gave him a curt nod, never breaking eye contact. Fury turned with a flip of his coat, limping off to the elevator. Steve looked down at her with a stern look, betrayed only by the twinkle in his eyes. “Behave, agent. No eating anyone unless I tell you to, okay?” She gave a playful growl, bumping his leg with her head with enough force to jostle him forward a step. Steve laughed, pushing her head away and walking up the ramp into the plane. The agents inside gave her a wide berth. All except Tony, who walked right over and stroked her head.

“Hey, Cap. Patchy give you much trouble?”

“No, I think he’s smart enough to know that if he wants to see what she’s capable of, he’s gonna need to play nice.” Tony snorted, turning to Emmaline and burrowing his fingers in the fur just behind her ears, muttering.

“Y’know, you’re not exactly travel size like this.” She shrugged, and Steve huffed quietly.

“I think she wants to make sure the team takes her seriously.”

_**That, and if I need to bite someone, it’s a lot easier like this.**_ Both men huffed a soft laugh.

“Alright then, Pussycat, time for the briefing. Cap, you wanna do the honors?” Steve nodded, his smile fading a little.

He stepped to the center of the back, and the agents around him fell silent in anticipation of orders. Emmaline lounged to one side, a vision of indifference and boredom. “Alright, here’s the deal. We’ll be landing outside of the city and then taking a couple vans to the edge of San Geronimo. Blending in is really important. Everyone speaks Spanish, right?” Everyone nodded, including Emmaline. “Okay. The building is a working apartment building, so be aware. Avoid civilian casualties as much as possible. We’ll be breaking off into the usual groups to get there without rousing suspicion, then regroup on site. Only difference is I’ll be in a separate group with Stark and the cat. Any questions?” A hand went up towards the front of the plane, and Steve tried not to groan. “Thompson?”

“Sir, can you explain what a tiger is doing on mission?” A soft smack echoed echoed, followed by an “ow” and a couple snickers. Emmaline rose to her feet, shaking her fur out. The snickers died abruptly as she moved to the center of the plane, settling on her haunches.

_ **I’m here as a member of the Avengers, and I expect that to be enough information. You can call me Miss, or nothing at all.** _

“I’m sorry, how’s a pretty little kitty like you supposed to help us do our job?” Steve’s face dropped a little into a faint snarl, but he didn’t move.

_**Stand up agent. **_The air chilled as a burly man with blond hair stood, unafraid. _**Step to the middle of the plane.**_ He took a few confident steps to the center, his spine straight. Steve’s memories brought him back to the day Peggy Carter knocked a man to the floor with one blow for his disrespect, and a cold smile split his face. Emmaline stood, stalking a little closer as the grin faded slowly from the agent’s face at the realization of her size. _**Matthew Wilbur, correct?**_ He nodded, his smile gone and a look of mild worry behind his eyes. Without warning, she pounced. He rocked to the balls of his feet and braced for her full weight against his chest. What he was not prepared for, however, was for her to shift midair, wrapping an arm around his neck to twist to his back and put all of her weight to the back of his knees. She caught both of his arms and twisted them behind his, letting him crash to the floor with her full weight on his back. Steve and Tony stared, awed and a little afraid. Her hair was pulled into two braids, as ginger as her previous fur, and she stood proud in a deep red catsuit that was not of SHIELD’s or Tony’s making. Steve’s pants had become a little tight at the display, and he shifted his weight a little, trying to adjust himself without Tony noticing. Everyone ignored him, instead watching the woman with one foot between the agent’s shoulder blades and one on the floor.

“So that we are clear, Agent Wilbur: if it weren’t for the fact that we have a mission to do, and Director Fury wouldn’t much appreciate blood and organs on his nice clean plane, I would have cut open your intestines with my claws and left you to bleed out on the floor.” She stood up tall beside him, making eye contact with each agent, then looking at Steve and Tony, both of whom were shocked into silence. “Be warned. I do not answer to SHIELD, and I do not answer to the Avengers. If you disrespect me, it will be your insides on the floor instead of Agent Wilbur’s. Am I understood?” The men stood ramrod straight, eyes locked forward.

“Ma’am, yes, ma’am!” She smiled faintly, reaching down to easily yank the winded agent off the floor and onto his feet by his collar, gripping his throat tightly as she looked him in the eyes.

“Be grateful, Agent, and don’t make that mistake again.” He nodded vigorously, stumbling a little when she pushed him backwards. He marched quickly back to his seat, and she turned back towards Steve, giving him a warm grin as she stalked back to stand in front of him. Her head barely came to his shoulder, but somehow Steve didn’t think it’d stop her if she decided to take him down a peg. She had a spattering of soft freckles that started at her hairline and trailed down to the collar of her catsuit, and a small, colorful mark the size of a dime on her nose. Steve smiled faintly.

“Gotta say, doll, this is certainly not how I thought I was gonna meet ya face to face.” Her grin turned a little feral.

_**Well, judging by your pants, Cap, looks like you enjoyed the show.**_ His cheeks turned red, and she winked, brushing past him. As he watched, she shifted back, now a cat the size of a loaf of bread. She curled into a circle on the top of his duffle bag. Steve looked back at Tony, who was staring at her like he was trying to unravel the universe. He shook his head, settling into the seat closest to her, and trying to calm the tent in his pants, wondering why the fuck his life had to be so weird. And suddenly realizing just how very okay with that he actually was.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Nine hours flight time and one hour of driving found them in San Geronimo. They’d split up into different vehicles when they’d landed, Tony taking off in his suit to (hopefully) do recon on the building before the rest of them got there, and to keep an eye on everything while they ran the mission. Now, Steve walked casually through the narrow streets, dressed in casual clothes. He ignored the people around him and kept a deceptively loose grip on the canvas bag slung over his shoulder, which contained a rather disgruntled cat. They’d had the same conversation at least twice, and they were having it again as their destination came into sight.

_ **Come on, Cap, I’d get there twice as fast if you’d just let me go.** _

“I said no, doll.” Steve muttered back, trying not to attract attention.

_ **Please, Steve? I promise I’ll come back. **_

“No, Emmaline.” She huffed.

_ **At least take this damn collar off me, for fucks sake.** _

Steve rolled his eyes, ignoring her. He reached the gated front of the door, stooping to tie his shoe and letting her slide out of his bag and through the iron bars. Steve stood, pulling his phone from bag and leaning against the worn brick of the building. The camera view showed not the cobblestone under his feet, but the moving view of wherever Emmaline was. She’s made it to the top floor, and had managed to knock open the hatch to the roof to let the team through. The door to the left led to the apartment where the trafficking ring worked, while the one to the right housed an older woman whose eyesight was poor and who already had like four cats (Recon didn’t know about the cats, but Emmaline could smell them. And they were gross). She shifted, pressed the doorbell to the right hand door, and shifted immediately back to the size of a football. Once the door opened, she slipped in between her feet, hiding under the cupboards in the kitchen. The woman didn’t even see her, poor thing, and shut the door, muttering about “los jóvenes.” Emmaline shifted back, and moved to the front door, picking up the phone to the front door and pressing the button to let Steve in. Steve took the stairs two at a time, pulling a small cardboard box out of his bag, quietly thanking Spain for the lack of elevators. He met Emmaline at the top of the stairs, the rest of the team ready on the roof.

“You ready?” He muttered, looking her in the face. She rolled her eyes, shifting and shrinking to her smallest form, the size of an American football. He dropped her gently into the cardboard box, taping it loosely shut and adjusting his glasses and hat before pressing the doorbell. The door swung open slowly, and a middle aged man with weak eyes and a greasy beard peaked around the door.

“Correo para ti, señor.” Steve handed him the box, trying not to tip it. The man pulled the box from his hands, watching him carefully. He released the box, slowly pulling a delivery form from his bag with a pen and handing them to the suspicious man. The man signed the paper, shoving them back at Steve and firmly shutting the door in Steve’s face. Steve shook the worry from his shoulders, making his way back down to the ground floor and walking out the back door into the courtyard.

“Cap, you sure about this?” Tony’s worry was faint through the coms, and Steve tried to be strong.

“She’ll be fine, Tony. I get the feeling this isn’t the first time she’s done this.”

“Okay, but if something happens and my PA kills me for not bringing the kitty back, I blame you for my death.” Steve laughed, grabbing one of the grappling lines and hauling himself up to the roof.

“In that case I’ll be sure to speak at your funeral then.”

_**Would the two of you shut up, please? I’m fine, but my job’s gonna be a whole lot harder if I can’t concentrate!! Tell the team to get ready, we’ve got a couple bodies to bag.**_ Steve winced at the hiss Tony let out.

“Dammit, Emmaline, we said no casualties!”

_**Keep it in your pants, TinCan, nobody’s dead! They’re just gonna be a lot easier to transport if you bag ‘em.**_ Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. Judging by the confusion on the team’s faces, they’d only gotten half the conversation. He swung a black bag over his shoulder and dropped through the open hatch, wincing at the groan of the wood beneath his feet and moving to the left hand door.

“You ready, doll?”

_**Yessir. Door’s unlocked. Go ahead and open it.**_ The door swung open silently with a small push and Steve moved to one side, peaking around one corner of the doorway when no one came out. The silence was a little daunting, and the lack of sunlight made it difficult to tell the difference between the walls and the floor. Quiet sniffling was coming from the back bedroom. Walking into the living room, the team following, Steve’s eyes grew wide, and he barely registered the sounds of horrified swears and gagging coming from the agents behind him.

Everything was destroyed. There were small puddles of blood scattered everywhere, and the pattern of the carpet was hidden completely under the bodies scattered across the room. Guns had been abandoned here and there, and what looked like a machete had been wedged into the couch. True to her word, every body had a faint heartbeat, and, judging by the empty medical needles on the kitchen counter, each had been knocked unconscious by the same chemical compound that the trafficking ring had been using on their victims. Leaving the team to bag the bodies and get them out to the car, Steve followed the sound of whimpering to the back bedroom. Knocking softly, and pushing the door open, his eyes grew wide.

Seven or eight girls sat huddled in the far corner of the room, staring at him with a mixture of fear, apprehension, and heart wrenching emptiness. Emmaline lay stretched across their laps, purring softly. Steve stopped a few feet from them, holding out his empty hands.

_**Hermanitas, esta es Steve. El va a ayudarles.**_ Slowly, she pulled away from them, shifting gently back into a woman. “Esta bien, hermanitas. Toda va a estar bien.” She pulled them to their feet, one by one. She turned to Steve, face blank. _**Are the ambulance and the police ready outside?**_ He nodded, holding out his hand to one of the girls with empty eyes. He pulled her gently forward, and pulled out a thin fleece blanket to wrap around her shoulders. One of the agents came in and took her gently by the shoulders, walking her through the door, down the stairs, and out the building to the waiting ambulance. They repeated this process with each of the girls until all of them had been bundled and passed to the gentle hands of the waiting EMTs. Once the police had been informed of what had happened, and how to get in touch with them once they knew more about the men involved, the first responders drove away with the girls, and the group of agents slipped back inside to deal with the mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Correo para ti, señor.  
Package for you, sir.
> 
> Hermanitas, esta es Steve. El va a ayudarles.  
Little sisters (term of endearment), this is Steve. He’s going to help you.
> 
> Esta bien. Toda va a estar bien.  
It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.
> 
> I’m moderately fluent in Spanish, and I’ve actually been to San Geronimo in Spain, so I am writing from what I know.


	5. Watchful

Midday found the streets quiet and empty. The orange trees stood still and solemn, guarding the streets like perfect soldiers. A train of SUVs lines a quiet street, and a man watches from the low rooftops as a group of women are escorted from the building into a pair of waiting ambulances. The ambulances leave, and men in black pile large body bags into the backs of the large black vehicles. A woman emerges, arguing with a large man in dark gear and a smaller man in a neat suit. The woman is all fire and emotion, and when the conversation is over, she flips over a trash can into an alleyway, changing her form midair into a beautiful ginger cat. The man on the roof top smiles, and snaps a picture, first of her, then the men on the curb. She is beautiful, and she will be his. He will make sure of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, this one and the next are short, but after that they’ll get a little longer. Comments would be lovely!!


	6. Broken Hearts and Low Self-Esteem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emmaline and Tony have a heart to heart.

“Hey doll, you ready to go?” The bags were all stacked in the back of an SUV, the floors had been scrubbed clean, and the carpet had been shampooed. To be honest, the apartment was probably in better condition now than it had been in years. The Strike team had wanted to just pack up the body bags and their equipment and leave, but Emmaline had insisted that they clean up the mess that they (she) had made. So while the Strike team had lugged the bags downstairs, she had stripped the entire apartment and returned it to it’s previously clean state. And to be honest, Steve was sure that if it had been any other female agent cleaning, there would have been a binder full of sexual harassment reports to fill out. But the men had been nothing but respectful, and one or two of the older agents had actually helped her remove the carpet and some of the larger pieces of damaged furniture. She rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, I ain’t getting back in the bag, Steve.”

“Doll-“

“No, Steve. There’s no way. I would rather fly in one of Tony’s suits than do that again.”

“Emmaline, Patchy said-“ She turned on Tony, who backed away with his hands up.

“News flash, TinCan, I don’t care what Patchy says. I’ve been cooped up in a plane for 10 hours, and I’ve got a whole ton of adrenaline to work off. So you can either shove me back in the plane and let me go a couple rounds with your boys, or you can let me run from here to the plane, and I’ll sit nicely all the way home.” From her peripheral vision she could see several of the agents adjust their feet in discomfort, and one actually turned a little white. Steve looked at the men, sighing, and shook his head.

“You keep the collar on, and you be at the plane in an hour. No detours, stay out of sight as much as possible.”

“Sir, yes sir!” She saluted dramatically, earning a few snickers. “See ya, TinCan!” She dashed off, doing a flip off a trash dumpster into an alley and shifting mid air. Tony chuckled at Steve’s look of admiration and exasperation before flying off. The agents piled into vehicles, and they drove towards their ride home.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The team arrived back at the plane with no issues, other than complaints about the heat and lack of public bathrooms. They’d made a stop in central Sevillato drop off the body bags at a judicial building, and to pick up kebab for everyone. Tony was waiting in the cockpit with his suit jacket tossed across the back of the copilot’s seat, thumbing through a book that Steve swore was titled “How To Tell If Your Cat Is Plotting To Kill You,” but he doesn’t ask. Emmaline is also in the cockpit, playing with a large cockroach on the floor underneath Tony’s chair. Steve walked into the cockpit just as Emmaline pounced on Tony’s pant leg. He yelped out, loud and embarrassingly squeaky, and smashed his knee cap on the underside of the control board. The resulting storm of profanity echoed through the plane, and more than one agent snickered. Steve just shook his head.

“Tony, I don’t think that book's going to help you much.” Steve walks over and reaches under the chair, pulling Emmaline out and walking out with her in his arms. Tony just rolled his eyes and tossed the book in the copilot seat.

“FRIDAY, any missed messages?” He picked up a blue bouncy ball and tossed it against one of the metal lockers, catching it again when it came back to him.

“You have a 30-second long voice message from Ms. Potts for a meeting scheduled for Monday morning, two text messages from Ms. Romanoff about the charity ball that the Stark Foundation is planning in six weeks, and a 5-second long voice message from Ms. Smith. Also, you have one email from Dr. Banner about the incident in the lab.”

“Can you summarize those messages for me FRIDAY?”

“Of course. Ms. Potts would like you to explain your plans for the installation of renewable energy sources in all of Stark Industries’ buildings to the board.”

“Yeah, send her a text saying yes I’ll do that. Next!”

“Ms. Romanoff would like to know the nature of the charity ball, and if the presence of all of the Avengers is required.”

“Formal, as in sexy but keep it classy, and yes, anyone who doesn’t come pays for team dinner for a month. Gimme Banner’s email next.”

“Dr. Banner would like to strongly request that you speak with Ms. Smith for access to the database in the lab in order to finish his thesis.”

“Ask him what the information’s called, then crack open the database and pull out his paper.”

“I’m unable to do that, sir. The database is locked.”

“Start Excalibur Protocol.” A couple seconds passed, then a loud blare echoed suddenly through the plane, causing everyone to jump, and a few of the agents to drop things. Emmaline actually hissed angrily, and jumped out of Steve’s arms.

“Denied.”

“Shit.” Tony caught the ball again, holding it against his forehead. “FRIDAY, what protocol is running right now?” Emmaline jumped up onto the control board, miraculously managing not to flip any switches.

“The Super Nanny Protocol and Disaster Mode were both activated fourteen hours ago, sir, and are still running.”

“Daddy Bear Override.” The sound went off again, and this time swearing echoed back in response.

“Denied.”

“Dammit. Alright, play Maddy’s voice message.” A click, and the PA in the cockpit was full of the noise of running water.

“Your lab, your liquor storage, and all of your suits are on lockdown. See me when you get back.” A soft click ended the message. Tony groaned quietly, burrowing his head in his hands.

**_She’s not mad about the lab._** Tony sighed, leaning back in his chair, and throwing the ball at the locker again. She jumped into the air, shifting to stand and lean against the locker, catching the ball before it hit the locker and throwing it back at him.

“How d’you know?” She sighed, rolling her eyes. He threw the ball back to her, a little harder. She still caught it, and returned it softly.

“Tony, she’s a girl, and she’s not a scientist. She probably couldn’t care less about your lab.” The blue ball made a soft “thwock” sound as it hit her palm. She chucked it towards Steve at the other end of the plane, who caught it and put it in his pocket.

“Then why is she mad? What’s she so upset about?”

,“Tony, what happened to your lab.” He looked down at his lap, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. She sighed, less exasperated this time and more sympathetic. “FRIDAY, plug in the coordinates for the airfield closest to the Tower and take us home.”

“Of course, Ms. Emmaline. Would you like the cockpit doors open or closed?”

“Closed please, FRIDAY, thank you.” The glass door hissed shut, and Emmaline could see Steve’s faint concern on his face as he tried to ignore them. She caught his eye and winked, chuckling when he turned a pretty shade of pink. Tony watched the whole interaction with raised eyebrows and slight disbelief.

“Hold on. What’s the deal-io with you and Grandpa?” She huffed, rolling her eyes at him to give him a stern look.

“I asked you a question first, TinCan.”

“Yeah, but I’m pretty sure whatever that was - ” he gestured between her and the far off Captain, who’s rear end happened to be in the air while he looked through his bag, “ - is way more interesting than my lab.” She leveled him with a glare that would’ve been way more effective if her cheeks hadn’t been on fire. He grinned at her. “C’mon, tell your Uncle Tony.”

“First of all, gross, TinCan. Second, I’ll make you a deal: you tell me what happened with your lab and walk you through what you need to do to get your stuff back, and I’ll answer any questions you have until either you fall asleep or we get home.” She offered him a hand, and he didn’t hesitate to grip it and shake it firmly. A crooked smile split her face. “Alright, what’d you do?” He faked a dramatically offended facial expression.

“First of all, I resent your assumption that I did anything. I’m an angel child and I’ve never done anything wrong in my life.” She snorted in laughter.

“Tony, you’ve been in Playboy Magazine for scandal more times than Steve’s been in the newspaper. C’mon, spill.” Tony’s smile fell, and he scrubbed his face, suddenly feeling so much older and very tired.

“I was building a new prototype for a holo-table.”

“Then what?” He looked down at his lap, letting out a long breath.

“It exploded.” Emmaline raised an eyebrow. “The pieces went everywhere, and the ceiling caught fire. I put out the fire and figured everything was fine, but - “ he sighed again, leaning back to stare at the ceiling. “I don’t know what happened.” She cocked her head to one side, one eyebrow still raised.

“How many hours worth of sleep have you had in the week?” He huffed, refusing to look at her.

“I’m fine, you don’t need - “

“That’s not what I asked, Stark.”

“- seriously, I’m good, I’ve had enough-”

**_Tony._** The voice came like thunder across his mind, firing lightning across his resolve and shattering his thoughts. He froze, looking at her in shock. Emmaline sighed, lightly hitting her head against the locker behind her to look at the metal plating above her. “The damage to the ceiling extended to water piping, which burst shortly after you left to meet Fury at the plane. FRIDAY told Maddy, who then shut down the lab and activated Disaster Mode. That was almost exactly twelve hours ago.” His eyebrows scrunched a little in confusion.

“How’d you know that?” She let out a humorless chuckle, looking at him with tired eyes.

“Maddy and I have a connection. It’s how she knew you had me by the scruff of the neck the other day in your office, and how I know she doesn’t care about the damage to the lab.”

“Then why’d she lock it down?” She gave him a sad smile.

“Because she knows that you’ve slept less than six hours in the past three days, and that five bottles worth of alcohol has disappeared from your cabinet since you found out about this mission. She’s mad that you screwed up, that you didn’t tell her, and that you’re not taking care of yourself.”

“So? Why does she care?” The look she gave him wasn’t full of pity like he expected; no, it was full of sadness and full of fire.

“Because it’s about time more people gave a fuck whether you lived or died.” He raised his eyebrows at her anger. “Your failure of a father fucked you up, Tony, and he didn’t love you like you deserved. And Pepper’s got a life of her own now, and Rhodey’s gotta work with the government. And we both know you need someone to remind you that it’s okay to be human. So now that’s Maddy. And may the good Lord bless her, but she’s decided that you’re hers to take care of from now on.” She stood up straight, rolling her shoulders and looking him in the eyes. “So I’ll tell you this once. When you screw up, you own it like a man, and you try and fix it like a man. You do that, and she’ll forgive you every time. If you don’t, you won’t be seeing your lab for a while. Cause she can make your life seem like sunshine and roses, or she can make it feel like hell on earth. It’s up to you.” Tony looked at her, trying to believe that someone could care, to believe that maybe he deserved it. And she looked at him like she knew. He broke first, looking down at the small hole he’d worried into the hem of his shirt. She smiled a sad sort of smile.

“So, what do you want to know?”


	7. Heart to Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Home sweet home. With a rather frustrated ginger.

Their conversation lasted the entire ride home, though by the time the East Coast had come into view again Tony’s eyes had started to get heavy. Steve had fallen asleep long before they landed, hunched over with his head in his hands and snoring softly. He had a bunk in one of the quarters on the plane, just like everyone else, but he hadn’t wanted to leave her alone with Tony without backup. They arrived close to midnight, and all the lights of the tower were dark, except for the ever present glow of the A at the top. The Strike team handed Steve their reports from the mission once they arrived in the parking garage, and then they all went home. Emmaline waited till they’d all left to hand Steve her report. He looked down at the paper in his hand, then up at her face with a faint grimace.

“Sorry doll, but Fury’s gonna want you to be there for debriefing in the morning, since you did most of the work.” She looked up at him, jaw dropped.

“Steve, I haven’t been home in over 3 days! I have homework to do, there’s blood all over my catsuit, and….. and...” She cut off, shoving a hand through her hair, grimacing when it got caught on some dried blood that she hadn’t realized was there. Tony piped up from where he’d been leaning up against the building, half-asleep.

“Kid, it’s the middle of the night, and it’s the weekend. Getting seven or eight hours of sleep before facing the firing squad would do you good.” The elevator next to him opened with a ding. “Plus, we’ve got endless hot water, and a state-of-the-art washing’s machine that does awesome things with the uniforms.” He stepped into the elevator, waiting. Steve followed, turning to look back at her expectantly.

“Doll, you’ll be fine. You can shower, get cleaned up, I’m sure Maddy or Nat have clothes that’ll fit. You talk to Fury in cat form, then we’ll get you a ride home.” He reaches out a hand, a soft smile on his face. “We trust you with our secrets, Emmaline. You can trust us with this.” She slowly walks over, keeping her eyes focused on his face. She skirts his hand, being incredibly careful not to touch him. Tony stands out of the way in the corner, watching with a slight smirk. Steve clears his throat, looking away.

“FRIDAY, take us up to the common room.”

“Of course, sir. However, you should be aware that Ms. Smith is waiting for you.” Tony grimaced, avoiding Emmaline’s eyes as she turned to look at him. Sighing, she shifted gently to a large cat, a little bigger than an armful for Steve. He let half a smile crack his mouth, reaching down without prompt to scoop her into his arms. Her purr almost echoed, and he had to fight not to chuckle. Tony didn’t bother.

“You’re gonna need to tell Nat you’ve finally got a girlfriend, Cap. I don’t think Furball here is gonna wanna share.” Steve snorted as Emmaline let out a faint growl and fixed Tony with a reproachful look.

_**Watch it, TinCan. I could still eat you.**_ Tony and Steve both laughed, equally a little surprised at how the air between them had begun to ease up. _**Besides, you want help finding your soulmate, you’ll have to be nice to me.**_ Tony stopped mid-laugh, choking as his lungs caught. Steve shifted her to one arm to thump on Tony’s back. Tony bent over, coughing, staring at Emmaline with wide eyes.

“Tony, are you okay?” He looked up at Steve’s face, searching his eyes.

**_Chill, Tony, I was just talking to you_**. Tony huffed, trying to breathe regularly. _Damn cat,_ he thought. He felt the reverb of a snort echo across his mind. _**Rude, TinCan. Just rude.**_ He pointed at her, still bent over and heaving for a clear breath.

“We’re going to have a long conversation with Wanda about how the mojo works at some point.” The elevator slid open with a ding to reveal the team’s living room, the lights dim and the view shining through the floor to ceiling windows.

_**Who’s on patrol tonight?**_ Tony gave her a suspicious look, while Steve just chuckled to himself.

“SHIELD’s got a team doing rounds tonight. Nat and Clint just got back from a mission in Brazil, and Thor’s off in New Mexico visiting friends, but he’ll be back in the morning.” She tumbled out of his arms and landed soundlessly on the floor. Her tail stood up like a flag as she disappeared around the corner in the direction of the team’s apartments.

**_Goodnight, boys. _**Steve shook his head, smiling, as Tony fought to figure what on Earth he was missing. Steve clapped him on the shoulder.

“Have a good night, Tony.” And with that, he wandered around the corner towards his apartment and his bed.

“Yeah,” Tony called softly, lost in his own thoughts and no longer particularly tired. “You too, Cap.” Silence settled on the room, wrapping its arms around him like an old friend. He wandered towards the windows, hands gripped on his elbows. Soft footsteps pulled him out of his thoughts, but he kept his eyes on the lights shining from the city outside.

“You need sleep, Tony.” Her voice was soft, and surprisingly gentle. “Genius or not, you can’t do jack shit if you’re sleep deprived.” She slid quietly into his peripheral vision, standing out of arms reach and watching the skyline next to him. She didn’t bring it up again, like Pepper would’ve. He sighed under his breath, looking at her reflection in the windows. Her hair was down, in soft waves, like it’d been trapped in braids all day. His eyes caught on the soft color of the soulmark on her upper arm, the obvious handprint jarring his good mood. His stomach soured suddenly, and he wondered where the potent disappointment had come from.

“Congratulations on finding your soulmate.” He winced internally at how hollow a sentiment it sounded, even to his own ears. She turned a little to look at him, a sad smile on her face. They both turned back to the window, and the silence reclaimed the air for a little while.

“He doesn’t know.” Her voice was small, and it seemed to him like pain had braided itself into her throat at that moment. He turned to her, eyes curious. She shrugged at the unasked question. “He was freaking out when he touched my mark, and I haven’t had the chance to return the touch, or even tell him.” She looked down at her feet, arms wrapped around her middle. Tony thought back to the conversation with Emmaline on the plane. He took a deep breath, leaning to rest his forehead on the window, and let his exhale fog the glass.

“Maddy, I’m sorry.” She looked at him suddenly, eyes wide. He let his eyes close, trying to find the courage to be a little bit vulnerable. “I should’ve told you about the explosion, and I should’ve been more careful in testing new machines. I didn’t mean to make your job harder, or to cause so much damage. I didn’t realize the fire had weakened the piping, or I would’ve checked. But still, I’m sorry.” He held his breath, trying to ignore the way his heart was pounding. He heard her take a deep breath beside him.

“Tony, I don’t give a flying fuck about the lab.” He snorted a little under his breath. One side of her mouth tipped up in amusement.

“Emmaline figured as much.” He tensed a little, trying not to make this whole thing awkward. Her chuckle surprised him, and his shoulders relaxed a little at the sound.

“She’s usually right like that.” The air between them turned sad, like they both recognized that there were things they needed to say that might hurt. She huffed a breath, and he flinched a little, steeling himself for a thorough reaming. “Tony, did you sleep at all on the way home?” He refused to look at her, not wanting to open himself open for her claws when her voice went hard and sharp. Her soft sigh pulled him out of his head a little. “Tony, you’re a grown man. You don’t need a nanny watching your every move. That’s not my job.” He tipped his head sideways to look at her. She cocked an eyebrow at him, a hint of a smile flitting across her face. “But Tony...” She looked down at her feet again, wrapping her arms around herself again like a shield. “You need to take better care of yourself.” 

“But why do you care?!” His voice exploded across the space between them, and she flinched. Tony felt his stomach drop. He scrubbed across his mouth, trying to ignore the way his lungs ached from trying to hold himself together. “Yeah, it’s your job to make sure I do my job, but fuck, Maddy, it’s not your job to give a fuck about me.”

“Well, sorry to burst your bubble, _IronMan_, but I do give a fuck. Heaven help me, I give more than a fuck about you. I mean, for fuck's sake Tony, you wanna know what would happen if you died?” He looked up at her, startled. A fire burned in her eyes, and her hands were balled into fists at her side. She paced away from the window, opening her fists to shove them through her hair, almost growling when her fingers got caught in her thick curls. Maddy pulled them free and turned to look at him, and he stepped back a little. “Pepper would be a disaster. She’d come back early from her honeymoon just to make sure all the details were taken care of, because that was always her way of showing you that she cared. Happy wouldn’t know what to do with himself, so he’d throw himself into the Tower security, frustrating everyone, but no one would say anything, cause everyone would know why. Bruce would disappear into the lab for ages, except for missions, to let the Hulk work off his grief for him. Nat would ghost, and Clint would refuse to say your name. Thor would insist that you died a warrior’s death, and refuse to accept that there’s any other way for you to die. Steve would start taking mission after mission, just to drown out the voices in his head telling himself it’s his fault.” His eyebrows raised, frozen in place as she stalked closer to him. “There isn’t a single person in this tower, hell, in this country, that wouldn’t feel it. And I-” she choked off a breath, halfway between a swear and a sob. Tony’s mouth opened without his permission.

“Hit me.” She looked up at him, choking out a wet laugh.

“Tony, I’m not going to hit you.” He opened his arms wide.

“C’mon, it’ll make you feel better.” He let a shallow smirk cross his face. “Tell you what: if you can knock me out the window, I’ll even go sober for a month.” Her eyebrows lifted to her forehead.

“Promise?” He grinned, placing one hand on his heart and raising the other to the square.

“Engineer’s honor.” She grinned a little, stalking gracefully towards him. Her smile turned a little feral, and Tony felt his heart flip and his blood head south.

“Dry spell starts tomorrow.” And with that, she spun into a kick, sending her foot into the soulmark on his chest. And sending him flying through the window with a violent crash.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The crash woke everyone up, and a minute later found the resident Avengers armed and in shock in the living room. Emmaline was the last to the party, prancing in and leaping up onto the kitchen counter overlooking the disaster. After a few moments, Tony sailed back through the window in his suit, dropping to his knees with a wince once he landed. He shed his suit quickly, gasping a little as he rubbed at his chest through his t-shirt. It felt like a fire had been lit inside of him. Steve dropped the shield with a clang, hurrying over to kneel next to him, slinging one of Tony’s arms over his shoulder. Bruce knelt at his other side, placing gently probing hands on his ribs. Tony flinched a little, fighting for a clean breath. Nat’s voice broke the moment.

“Tony, what happened?” A snort shuffled across their minds, and they turned to Emmaline, who took that moment to lick herself clean.

_**He told Maddy to hit him**_. Nat and Clint looked at each other, disappearing around the corner for the security office. Wanda knelt in front of Tony, letting her magic wind around his ribcage.

“What does Maddy smacking him have to do with Tony getting thrown out the window?” Steve barked at Emmaline, resisting the urge to break something. She huffed an exasperated breath at him, ignoring his foul mood.

_**Cap, he told her that if she could send him through the window, he’d go sober for a month**_. He could feel her grin. _**She kicked him in the chest, to the left of the arc reactor.**_ Nat and Clint reappeared, Clint’s grin like a lighthouse from across the room.

“It was beautiful, Cap. One kick in the chest and he fucking _sailed_ through the window.”

“His ribs are not broken, it is just a bruise. He is very lucky.” Wanda’s voice was soft with wonder, curious. Tony slowly stood, still rubbing at his chest. Bruce frowned, moving to face Tony and pulling Tony’s shirt up, ignoring the exaggerated exclamation of disgust coming from Barton. His breath left him in a huffed gasp. Wanda smiled softly.

“Oh, Tony.” Bruce cuffed Tony lightly on the head. “Of course this happens to you.” The rest of the team shuffled closer to look, Vision hovering at the back. Emmaline disappeared back towards the apartments, unnoticed. The vibrant color of his mark shone with a sort of internal light, shifting like a rainbow in gasoline. And Tony...

Tony wondered what the hell he’s supposed to do now.


	8. Skeleton Closet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Director Fury and Emmaline have a conversation.

By the time 6:00am rolled around, what little glass that had been on the carpet had been cleaned up, the open pane had been covered and taped with plastic, and the repair team had been called. Honestly, they should probably just hire a team to work for just the Avengers; heaven knows they made enough of a mess for it to be worth it. Maddy came out at 6:15 sharp, starting the coffee maker and pulling out the ingredients for pancakes. Steve and Sam had already gone out for their run. An hour and four platters of warm pancakes later, the table had been set for breakfast, and Maddy had disappeared. At 7:15, FRIDAY woke the team, informing them of the ready breakfast and the debriefing set for noon.

When noon came, Fury arrived, black trench coat waving behind him in a non-existent breeze. Steve and Emmaline had found their way into the small conference room by the time Fury walked through the door, his eyes catching on her very orange form draped across the end of the table. He raised an eyebrow, looking at Steve.

“You didn’t strike me as a crazy cat lady kind of guy, Cap. Y’all just collecting strays now?” Steve chuckled lowly to himself.

“Nick, this is Emmaline. Emmaline, this is Director Nicholas Fury.” Fury lowered himself into a nearby chair, eyes focused on the very still feline. He settled back with his arms crossed as she stared back at him. After a moment or two, he looked up at Steve.

“Thought you said she was big.” His eyes flicked back to her as she let out a telepathic snort.

**_I believe the phrase you used was, “size of a motherfucking blimp.”_** She stretched, yawning as her back bowed. Fury watched her, unimpressed. Steve looked at her with a look of soft surprise on his face. She sat back down, deceptively relaxed. _**What? If he wants my help, he should know what I can do.**_ Steve just looked at her.

“Well in that case, would you like to join us in your regular form then?”

“What, she a shapeshifter then?” A soft chuckle across his mind had Fury narrowing his eye.

_**How about we debrief, then we can run down to the training room and you can watch while I beat up the Strike team.**_ Nick’s eyebrows rose as Steve laughed heartily.

“Alright then, Ms. Emmaline. How about you tell me what happened during the mission?”

The entire explanation took about two minutes from start to finish, made faster by the fact that Emmaline could telepathically communicate much faster than a normal person could talk. At times, she sent them pictures and memories of what happened instead of trying to use words. All in all, it was one of the fastest and most interesting debriefings Steve had been a part of. By the time she’d finished, Steve wasn’t sure if he should be concerned, afraid, or aroused.

“So you’re telling me you went into a hostile human trafficking base, alone, and it took you less than ten minutes to take out what, twelve guys?” Fury’s voice rippled faintly with skepticism. Steve tried not to grin.

_**Eight men in six and a half minutes, actually, but who’s counting?**_ Steve could feel her smirk. _**I believe Nat’s record is ten in less than five minutes, but in my defense, she had some tricksy gadgets and I did not.**_ She shrugged on shoulder. _**I also made a lot more of a mess than she usually does.**_ Fury lifted one eyebrow.

“Do I need to send someone to go clean it up?” Steve jumped on the question before Emmaline could make it worse.

“She actually cleaned up the mess while the Strike team packed up the traffickers and escorted the victims to an ambulance.” Fury looked at him, unimpressed.

“Captain, I think it’s time Ms. Emmaline and I had a private conversation.” Steve’s mouth dropped open to object, but she stopped him.

_**Steve, it’s fine. If this is what it takes for him to trust me, then so be it.**_ He closed his mouth into an unhappy line. With a slow nod to Fury, he left the room, closing the door with a firm click. An almost aggressive silence settled between them. After a few moments, Fury broke the silence.

“I don’t like secrets, Ms. Emmaline.”

_ **I’m very well aware of that, sir.** _

“And you, unfortunately, seem to have a whole lot of them.”

_**No more than the other people in this tower, sir.**_ One eyebrow lifted.

“So I’m sure it’s no surprise that I want answers before I let you start gallivanting across the world with my team.”

She rose up to her feet and stretched, mouth open in a wide yawn. Fury’s poker face held as she settled into a sitting position.

**_Let me change into something more comfortable, and then we can talk about who and what I am._** She stood again and slipped off the table, shifting in a silent flurry of fur and skin into her original form, dressed in dark jeans and a one of Maddy's green blouses. A smirk on her lips, she held her hands out wide at Fury’s faint look of disbelief.

“Well damn, sister, Stark wasn’t joking.” She laughed, open and relaxed, as she settled into a chair at the other end of the short table.

“Nice to know the TinCan likes me enough to tell stories.” Fury leaned forward carefully, resting his elbows on the table and folding his hands.

“Now, Ms. Emmaline, tell me about yourself.” Her smile fell just a little, and she pulled in a slow breath.

“Has Ms. Romanov told you what I’ve already told her?” His head tipped slightly to one side.

“I’d rather hear it from the source, if it’s all the same to you.” Emmaline gave a small nod, looking down at the table. When she spoke, it was with a flat tone, almost a recitation.

“I was four. My father worked for a tech company in California at the time, and he had a lot of business trips to different countries in Eastern Asia. The week I turned five, my father needed to go to China for a conference, but he and my mother decided to make it a family trip to celebrate. We stopped in Nepal on the way there to go hiking in the Himalayas the day of my birthday, but we got lost in the mountains. We managed to find a village in the mountains after several hours of being out longer than we’d planned. We’d run out of water, we needed directions to get back to Kushma, and I needed to use the bathroom. While my parents were arguing with the men at the gate, I ran off and found a hole in the wall that surrounded the village. I managed to wiggle my way through the hole and ran through the village trying to find a bathroom. I ran into the first house with an open door and found the bathroom in the back. On my way out, I got distracted by the things in the house. I found an open box of small crystals about three inches long. It was really pretty, and I’d always loved colorful rocks, so I picked it up.”She paused, looking up at Fury with empty eyes. “My skin turned black. I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. I think my heart stopped. Last thing I saw was a scarred Asian woman walking in the door, then everything went dark. When I woke up, the black chrysalis was falling off and the Asian woman was trying to calm my screaming parents. My mother was crying, and my father was just demanding answers. It took a couple minutes for them to see that I was okay, to calm down enough to listen to the explanation. Apparently I carry an alien genetic strain that makes metamorphosis possible. Couple days later we found out what had happened to me.” Her lips tipped in a humorless half-smile. “The first time, I was the size of a golden retriever. I panicked and destroyed half the house in a frenzy. Took six hours to turn back into myself and a week figure out how to do it on purpose. Then another week to learn how to change my size.” Emmaline looked back down, trying to shove away the sadness. “I spent almost my entire life there. They taught me how to read and write, how to defend myself. My parents died while I was still in that village. I never went to the funeral. I left a few years ago, moved to Queens, was adopted by a couple who also carry the gene for metamorphosis, and I was homeschooled until this year.” She finished with a shrug. Fury slowly leaned back in his chair, watching her face closely.

“Those are some very specific details, especially for a five year old.”She shrugged again.

“Jiaying told me the story often, so that I wouldn’t forget what happened to me. I wrote it down and memorized it when I left, so that if I ever got caught I could explain where I came from.”

“Is there anyone who can confirm your story?” She paused, looking off into space for a moment before turning back with a small smile.

“How’s Phil Coulson doing? Is the Bus still in one piece?” Fury raised an eyebrow, unblinking. Her smile grew. “I was there the day Skye arrived, and left a week later. She told me a lot about SHIELD, and when I came here we kept in touch. She can confirm everything everything I’ve told you.” Her face softened a little. “I’m not here to break up the team, and I’m not Hydra. I’m here because I think you could use another set of hands, and I’d appreciate the extra training. If you’d like, I’d be willing to have Wanda rifle around in my head.”

“Not sure if that’d boost my confidence, but I’ll put that on the list.” She shrugged casually, relaxing into the chair. “So what is it that you can actually do? Besides the cat thing and the mojo.” Emmaline rolled her eyes.

“I can change into a ginger cat. I can’t change my color, and I can’t change my size when I’m in this form.” She gestured vaguely to herself. “When I’m a cat, I can change my size to anything from about a new-born kitten to a wooly mammoth. Never actually tried anything bigger than that, but that’s as big as I’ve tried.” She pushed her hair out of her face. “I can communicate telepathically, both to individual and to groups. I can hear other people’s thoughts, especially the loud ones, and I can hear what Steve, Clint, and Natasha hear.” Fury’s eyebrows rose.

“I was under the impression that that was only the case with Captain Rogers.” Emmaline shrugged again, not really worried.

“It’s a recent development.” Fury gave her a look of disbelief.

“How recent?”

“Like a few weeks ago.”

“Do you know why?” Emmaline turned a little pink, looking down at her lap.

“I have a hypothesis, but that’s not something I’m willing to talk about right now.”

“Well then tell me this, young lady: what’s in it for you?” Her eyes shot up at him, jaw dropped open.

_“”What’s in it for me?”_ Are you serious? What’s in it for the rest of them? Did you ask them that?” Emmaline leaned forward, her face lit with anger. “Tony’s health has gone to shit since joining your cute little boy band, or haven’t you noticed? Steve’s got a guilt complex the size of Texas, and Bruce is terrified of himself. Natasha and Clint sleep with guns under their pillows. Wanda can’t leave the Tower or watch the news without being reminded of what she’s done.” She stood up, leaning over the table. “People don’t join the Avengers because they want something, Director. They join because they want to help, and because we’re all a bunch of freaks looking for a circus that makes us feel normal.” She shoved off the table, walking towards the door. Fury’s voice stopped her.

“You care about them, don’t you?” It wasn’t a question, and they both knew it. She turned her head.

“Yeah, I do.” She made eye contact with him, her eyes flashing between human and feline. “Apparently lot more than you do.” And with the unspoken threat, she slammed the door behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reference to Natasha’s “high score”, if you will, is from the scene in Iron Man 2, when she and Happy go into the building.
> 
> I’m so sorry it’s been so long, but this chapter did NOT want to come out. Plus, biology’s been kicking my ass and college life isn’t doing great things for my health. Comments are greatly appreciated!! ❤️❤️❤️


	9. I’m Friend With The Monster That’s Under My Bed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team bonding, Spider-Man reveals his identity to the Avengers, and Maddy and Bruce discover something rather important.

Since Maddy had kicked Tony through the window, he’d actually been doing pretty okay, all things considered. Granted, the next morning the entirety of his liquor storage had disappeared, and there’d been no guests needing wining and dining, so there hadn’t been any good reason for alcohol. But that still left Tony with his demons, and for a day or two after he struggled to relax enough to sleep. He’d lay down at night, staring at the textured ceiling (why the fuck did they even bother to do that?), and hadn’t fallen asleep for what felt like a millennium and a half, often waking up from dreams of the cold empty space with his heart in his throat.The third night, half way into his ritual of contemplating the choices of interior designers and avoiding his thoughts of Chitauri ships, a sudden bend in the bed had him shooting upright. The soft moonlight from the floor to ceiling windows illuminated a very large ginger cat crouching on his bed. Tony huffed, shoving a hand through his very messy hair and trying to stop his heart and lungs from doing frantic cartwheels. She said nothing, shifting into a much larger size and laying down on top of him, with her head resting over his heartbeat. Tony smoothed a hand down her head, burying his fingers in the thick fur. He threw his head back into the pillow, choking back a sob as her warm weight on top of him somehow settled his agitated heartbeat to match her sleeping pulse.

And for the first time since the sky opened to pour mayhem on New York City, Tony slept peacefully through the night.

After a couple nights of her finding her way to settle across his chest like a weighted blanket, Tony felt like a new man. He drank less coffee, made fewer accidents and fewer explosions in the lab, and the other Avengers had begun to notice the change in his attitude. Maddy had yet to comment, though sometimes, out of the corner of his eye, he’d catch her looking at him with a warm smile, eyes soft. He still didn’t know where to start with her; this wasn’t one of his many once-and-done bedmates, and even Tony knew that a soulmate was a special thing. He just... didn’t really know what that meant. Yeah, his parents had been soulmates, but that hadn’t really been the best example of a happily ever after. And even after all this time, Tony shoved away the thoughts of his parents every time they came. Thinking of them still hurt. For now, he did what Maddy asked without complaint, avoided casual conversation with her, and tried to ignore the itch to call Pepper for an SOS. Emmaline had been right, Pepper had a life of her own now, but that didn’t mean Tony didn’t miss her ability to set him straight.

Two weeks into his sobriety found him in his lab like always, refining the rebuilt holo-table prototype. Bruce sat out of the way, papers scattered across the table and at least two mugs half-full of cold coffee. AC/DC played at half volume in the background. Lunchtime had come and gone without their notice, but when four o-clock rolled around, FRIDAY decided it was time for a gentle intervention. When the music cut out, both men looked up.

“Boss, there’s a team dinner in an hour.“ Tony looked down at the spread of brightly colored sticky notes that Maddy always left him to remind him of things. Nope, nothing about dinner today. He passed a hand over his mouth.

“Who’s coming, FRIDAY?”

“Whole team’s been invited. She’s called the local pizza place with the usual order, and Mr. Barton has been sent on soda run.” Tony sighed a little to himself. In the absence of a good scotch, Dr. Pepper would have to do. “However, Ms. Maddy did say that she’d like to talk to you first. She’s on her way down now.” Tony tried to muffle a groan. There was gonna be a lecture, he could just feel it. The elevator dinged, and Tony’s breath caught a little at the sight.

Maddy’s arms were full of orange fur, a pair of dark wash jeans having replaced her usual dress suit. Her hair was half-down and curly, blending in with the ginger tone of the cat. When she let Emmaline down, Tony’s eyes widened at the worn button-down shirt that he was 98% sure had come from the back of his closet. All in all, the casual look had him more than a little breathless. He started at a bump against his shins, and looked down to find Emmaline staring at him intently. Tony turned to watch Maddy walk over to Bruce, speaking to him in a low voice. A sudden sharp pain in his thigh dragged him out of his observation with a yelp, pulling his attention back to Emmaline as she kneaded her front paws on his worn jeans. Tony rolled his eyes.

“Alright, you mean furball.” He scooped her up into his arms, placing her on top of the workspace next to the stubborn prototype. “What do you want?”

**_You do realize that avoiding her isn’t going to make a difference, right?_** She shifted to a smaller form, more the size of a football, and settle down between the odds and ends that littered the table. Tony opened his mouth to defend himself, but she cut him off. **_And if you want this conversation to be private, I suggest you just think your responses._** Tony’s eyebrows furrowed.

“I don’t know how to do that,” he replied bluntly, flopping down into his seat and trying to ignore his frustration.

_Just focus on a single thought. Like rehearsing what you’re going to say before you say it. _Her tail twitched, her eyes unblinking._ Just don’t actually say it out loud._ Tony huffed, pulling himself out of the chair to continue working with the prototype.

WHAT, LIKE THIS? He could feel her smile as she turned a little more to watch him adjust the wires.

** _Exactly. Now, what makes you think that avoiding Maddy’s gonna make it easier to talk to her?_ **

IT WORKS WITH EVERYTHING ELSE. PUT IT OFF FOR AWHILE, AND WHEN YOU COME BACK EVERYTHING SEEMS TO MAKE SENSE. Tony tried to shove down the guilt as the lie slid from beneath his grip. He felt her huff, then coughed out a “Hey!” when she knocked his wrench off the table.

**_Don’t try and lie to me, Stark. You know full well that avoiding people has only ever made them leave you._** He looked away from her, shoving away the thoughts of his parents. The way his father would disappear for “business trips,” and his mother would find ways to bury herself in other people’s lives until he came back, like nothing had happened. A soft nudge at his hand pulled him from his downward spiral, and he looked down to find his hands curled into shaking fists. **_You’re more of a man than your father ever was, Tony._** He snorted, turning his head away to look at Maddy. The way her soft smile seemed to light up the room. He smiled a little despite himself. **_You’re more of a man because you know that this is important, and you don’t want to screw it up._** She bounced from the table and shifted into a larger size before landing gracefully on the floor. He sat down, burying his head in his hands. **_Don’t let this scare you, Tony._** The quiet swelled softly, filling the space. Moments passed in silence.

“You can’t hide from me forever, you know.” Her low voice coaxed him out of his thoughts again, her warm presence pulling his head out of his hands. She stood on the other side of the table from his, arms folded and one hip cocked out to the side. A sad, almost wistful smile pulled at her lips. Tony sat back in his chair, pushing away from the table and spinning in a slow circle. Bruce and Emmaline had already vacated the lab, it would seem. Traitors. Maddy walked around his work station, leaning up against the table and putting herself between him and his convenient distraction. He said nothing, leaning his head back to stare at the beams that crisscrossed the ceiling. She hummed softly. “I’m proud of you, y’know.” He froze, eyes unmoving. “You’ve gone two weeks without alcohol, there’s been half as many explosions as usual, and you’ve actually been sleeping.” A sudden discomfort settled at the bottom of his stomach, reminding him of the feline that found her way into his bed every night, how he somehow couldn’t sleep without her now. “Tony, look at me.” He closed his eyes, feeling his joints lock in anticipation of the disappointment he’d see in her eyes if she knew. A soft sigh filled the space between them, then his body went rigid with a start at the feeling of someone standing between his thighs. Soft hands gripped his jaw on either side, coaxing his head forward to look at her. “I found orange cat fur in your sheets this morning, Tony.” His neck went rigid against the urge to flinch. She ran one hand through his hair, a confusing half smile lighting her face as he tried not to melt at the affectionate touch. Yes, Tony Stark was very, _very_ touch-starved. Her next words shocked him. “Tony, I don’t care. If that’s what it takes for you to sleep through the night, then that’s what it takes.” The wistful smile turned into a smirk. “Unless you’re into bestiality, then we might have a problem.” Damn, Tony could _feel_ the way his face went from pink to white to green, like a frantic traffic light. A shudder shook his frame, and she laughed. He pulled away reluctantly, looking at her in a new light. Damn, had she always been this entertaining? He sat back, posing like the king of the world, pointing at her with one finger and a smirk on his face.

“That was mean.” She snorted, shaking her head and walking away. He glanced at the clock and got up to follow her with a sigh, shoving away his dread at a sober social interaction. The elevator door closed with a ding behind them.

“FRIDAY, team living room please.”

“Also, isn’t that my shirt?” She looked down at the shirt with a smile, then looked back up at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

“Well I figured it’d look better on me than it did on your floor.” Tony’s breath caught a little at the unspoken challenge. Fuck, she might be even more perfect for him than he thought. At least this part of the game he knew how to play. He leaned against the wall of the elevator, eyes slowly taking her in from head to toe, mouth set in a deceptive smirk.

“I don’t know, we might need to test out that hypothesis.” She chuckled.

“Maybe later. We still have team dinner to go to.” Tony groaned, knocking his head against the wall. Maddy snorted a laugh at him, shaking her head. “It’s not that bad, Tony. I think you’ll actually enjoy this.” He let out a pitiful, wordless whine, and she chuckled. “FRIDAY, stop the elevator, please.” The elevator slowed to a stop, and Tony looked at her, startled and a little wary. Maddy turned to him, eyes bright. “I know you hate doing these, especially sober, but trust me, this is important. This is your team, and doing team dinners will help rebuild it.” One of his eyebrows tipped up in challenge, and she smiled brightly, stepping a little into his personal space. “So you need to behave,” she commanded firmly, pushing gently at his chest. Mischief filled her smile, and she tipped her head to one side. “Plus, I have a really good incentive for you to be nice.” His eyes lit up a little, and a smile pulled a little as she inched closer, a light glowing in her eyes. The hand resting on his chest slid up his chest to grip the back of his neck, and in a heartbeat she pulled him down to kiss him.

Deep down Tony knew it’d probably only lasted a few seconds, but damn it felt like the world had stopped spinning just for this. All in all it was probably one of the most chaste kisses he’d ever received, but that didn’t seem to make much of a difference. Maddy pulled away, a warm smile spread across her face. She smoothed his shirtfront, then leaned in to his ear.

“And if you play nice, there’s more.” Tony blinked as she pulled away, more than a little discombobulated. Her lighthouse smile turned into more of a professional crescent as she stepped away from him. “FRIDAY, take us to the living room please. Is everyone here?” Tony adjusted his pants a little, meeting Maddy’s resulting smirk with a grin.

“Of course, miss. We’re still waiting for Mr. Parker, but everyone else has made their way to the living room.”

“Perfect! Thank you, FRIDAY.”

“Certainly, miss.” The elevator opened with a soft ding. The team had gathered into the living room already, and it looked like the pizza and Clint had arrived. Tony clapped loudly, calling the attention to himself before Maddy could disappear.

“Welcome to the party, freeloaders! I’d like to officially introduce my PA and soulmate, Ms. Maddy Smith.” A blush spread across her cheekbones, which Tony decided should probably be ignored, for decency’s sake. “Maddy, this is Thunderthighs, our local Captain of Righteousness and Freedom, the lovely and dangerous Natasha Romanov, our pet bird-boy Clint Barton, and - “ Maddy cut him off before he could continue.

“Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, the Vision, Quicksilver, War Machine, Emmaline is somewhere in the tower, and Spider-Man is on his way from school. ” Everyone looked at her, a little shocked. Maddy shrugged. “I’m his PA, I read all his files. Besides, everyone knows who you are.” An orange blur raced into the room, up Thor’s back, and launched itself off his shoulder towards Maddy. Shouting exploded in the room, several people rushing forward, several seconds too late. Maddy caught the very large blur, which turned out to be Emmaline the size of a corgi. Maddy laughed. “Except you, hon, your secret’s still safe.” The public elevator dinged behind them, to pour out a very discombobulated Spider-Man with an overflowing backpack. Maddy handed Emmaline to a suddenly very pink-faced Steve to hurry over to the flustered, panting boy.

“Ms Maddy! I’m so..... sorry, am.... am I late? I came... as soon.... “ She took the backpack from him, putting a hand on his back.

“Breathe, Peter. It’s okay, you’re just in time. Pizza just got here.” Peter hunched over, heaving breaths. Tony gestured at her with the pizza cutter.

“Wait a minute, how do you know who Spiderboy is? Half the Avengers don’t even know that.”Maddy rolled her eyes as she set his backpack down by the couch. She turned and fixed Tony with a stern look that suddenly reminded the room just who was in charge. And strongly reminded Tony of the catholic school nuns. Or Pepper. Shit, he was in trouble.

“Really Tony? You bring a kid in and you don’t tell the team who he is? What if something happens to him and you’re not available? How’re they gonna know who to contact?”

“That’s not... it’s for his own...” Tony stuttered, shoving one hand through his hair. Peter put one hand on Maddy’s shoulder, distracting her from her lecture.

“It’s okay, Ms. Maddy. It’s not his fault. I’m not.... I’m not actually an Avenger yet.” Maddy looked at him, like trying to put together a puzzle. After a few seconds, she smiled.

“Well then Spider-Man, you wanna officially introduce yourself to the team?” He smiled back at her, a little pink. He dropped his hand from her shoulder as he turned to the group, pulling off his mask and clearing his throat.

“He... hello. My name’s Peter Parker, I’m also Spider-Man. I’ll from Queens, I’m a sophomore in high school, and... uh... “ He looked to Maddy, a little lost. Her smile grew in sympathy. She put a hand on his shoulder.

“Peter’s cover is that he’s a lab intern with Stark Industries. He’s actually incredibly smart. He’s designed his own web shooters, and made his original suit. His natural powers are strength, flexibility, acrobatics, and surface adhesion, among other things.” With a pat on the shoulder, she let him go, his face pink from her praise. “And with that, let’s eat before the pizza gets cold.” After an awkward shuffle, everyone found their way to a seat. Maddy pulled on Tony’s elbow before he could disappear, fixing him with a firm look when he turned to her. “We’re going to talk about that before you’re allowed in the lab again.” Tony stifled a groan, nodding his head and making his way to the safety of the couch.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Three hours later, the pizza was gone, Peter had gone home, Wanda and Vision had disappeared, and someone had brought out Monopoly. The game lasted until midnight, with Tony, surprisingly, going bankrupt by ten o’clock, and and the combined might of Steve and Emmaline completely destroying everyone else on the board. Accusations of cheating soon dissolved into an impromptu wrestling match on the floor. The tussling ended suddenly with a collective shout when Emmaline grew to the size of car and lay on top of the rest of the team, which was when Maddy decided she’d had enough fun for the night. With a call of “goodnight, don’t break anything,” she made her way downstairs to put the lab on lockdown for the night. She paused at the door, finding Bruce back at his desk. A soft knock at the door pulled him out of his head.

“Maddy, how can I help you?” He pulled his glasses off his face, fidgeting with the bows. She walked over, a gentle, sad smile on her face.

“How long have you been down here, Bruce?” He looked away, still fiddling with his glasses.

“I need to finish my thesis before the end of the month. Figured now was as good a time as any to work on it.” She raised an eyebrow, unconvinced.

“FRIDAY, how much time has Dr. Banner spent inside the lab in the past week?” The mechanical voice piped up immediately as Bruce looked up.

“Approximately one hundred and forty hours in the past week.” A guilty look passed over Bruce’s face.

“Dr. Banner, contrary to popular belief, my job isn’t just to make sure Tony doesn’t get himself killed.” She picked up the now three cold cups of coffee and set them aside. “It’s also to make sure the Avengers as a whole are taking care of themselves. So I’m not going to let you work yourself into the ground just for another doctorate.” Bruce’s cheekbones turned a light shade of pink. “Y’know, most people with seven doctorates have pretty big egos to go with them. I mean, Stephen Strange only has one and he’s got enough ego to fill a gymnasium.” Bruce chuckled lowly. She cocked her head to one side. “And yet here you are, seven doctorates and more brain than everyone else in this building put together, hiding behind your research. Why?” He looked away, opening and closing the hinges of his glasses.

“You’ve seen the news, Maddy. You know what I’ve done.”

“Funny, I was under the impression that the Hulk was the one responsible for the mess in Africa, not you.” She pushed his chair back a few feet with her foot, sitting down on the edge of the table. “Yes, the Hulk has leveled buildings, destroyed Harlem, and probably caused more than a few deaths, but you know what? That wasn’t your fault.” He looked up at her, unbelieving. “Harlem? The fight with the Abomination? The fact that the Hulk even exists?” Her voice rose slightly, filled with a pure kind of fury. “That’s not on you. That’s on Senator Ross, and believe me, he’s not losing much sleep over what he’s done, so why the fuck should you?” Bruce flinched a little, but she ignored it. “Africa? That was Wanda, and she pays for her actions every night in her dreams. There’s enough blame to go around without placing it where it doesn’t belong.” Her voice softened, watching his face flow back and forth between self-hatred and guilt as he focused on the wrinkles of his pants. “But tell me what Bruce Banner has done for the world.” He looked back up at her, brown eyes open wide.

“What do you - I’m not - “ He stuttered, gesturing with his glasses.

“What, you wanna try and tell my that you’ve never done a good thing in your life? Cause I’m pretty sure there’s a couple villages in a third world country somewhere that would like to disagree with you.” She cocked her head to one side, a half smile splitting her lips. “Plus, I’m pretty sure SHIELD didn’t hire you for the Avengers just for your legendary patience and your ability to pound Thor into a pulp.” She stood and turned towards the table, shuffling the papers together into a pile. “One of the smartest men in the world, who hides in fear of his own other half.” She turned around, waving the stack of papers at him. “Have you heard of dissociative identity disorder, Dr. Banner?” Bruce blinked at her, eyebrows scrunched in confusion at the sudden change of topic.

“It’s like... when the mind splits into fractions that each have their own personality, correct?”

“Close, but not quite. The mind doesn’t split, exactly. It’s more like, your brain creates a new personality as a sort of protection.” Her face was set, eyes stormy. “If anyone else had been exposed to that much radiation at once, Bruce, they would have died. But because of the small levels of gamma radiation that your father was exposed to, your genetic material was uniquely flexible enough to survive the large scale exposure you put yourself through when the reactor blew. But not flexible enough to prevent you from going feral, like the Abomination did.” She waved the stack of papers at him again. “So your brain and body created a separate personality that absorbed the gamma radiation, in order to protect you.” Her voice grew softer, kinder. “That’s why, when you tried to kill yourself, he wouldn’t let you. Why the Hulk comes out whenever he senses a threat, whether that’s a crazy Asgardian deity or being pushed off a ledge. Increased heartbeat doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll come out, because “increased heartbeat” doesn’t always mean “fight or flight situation.”” Bruce slowly shook his head.

“That’s an interesting hypothesis Maddy, but I don’t think it’s that’s simple.” She snorted, putting the papers back on the table.

“I hardly think a mental disorder like DID counts as “simple,” but tell you what, let’s test a different hypothesis of mine.” He quirked an eyebrow at her.

“What? You gonna push me off the roof?” Maddy laughed, shaking her head.

“No, Bruce, I don’t think that’d do anybody much good.” She took a step or two closer to him. “Do you trust me, Bruce?”

“It’s not you I don’t trust.”

“That’s not what I asked.” He paused, eyes flicking across her face. Slowly, he nodded. Her smile grew. “Come with me.” She turned around quickly, walking briskly towards the elevator. Bruce followed a couple paces behind, confused. They made their way to the training floor, walking into an empty gym. Off to one side, a microwave-sized Emmaline lounged, napping.

“What.... what are we doing?” Maddy ignored the question, walking him into the middle of the room. “What’s the plan, Maddy? You know I don’t do well with surprises.” She turned to him, her facial expression soft.

“You don’t have to do anything. We’re going to try a hypnosis exercise. Emmaline’s just here for backup.” She tipped her head to one side and gave him a lopsided smile. “Just relax, Bruce. Eyes closed. Deep breaths, in and out.” His shoulders dropped in submission, eyes falling closed as the rise and fall of his chest slowed. Maddy raised her hands to hover around his temples, reaching out with her thoughts, reaching out for him. With a groan, Bruce fell to one knee, his skin slowly turning green. After a few moments, the Hulk knelt in his place, eyes still closed, his purple shirt in tatters. Maddy stepped back, eyes bright. “Hulk.” Groaning softly, the Hulk’s eyes opened, going in and out of focus. “Hey, man. It’s okay.” Maddy reached out a small hand to try and catch him as he teetered forward. Fire spread across his skin, lighting a colorful handprint where their skin had touched. Hulk flung out a hand, grasping around her middle in an attempt to steady himself. Maddy’s breath caught in her throat, eyes wide. After a minute or two, his grip relaxed, leaving her still breathless.

**_I think that’s enough for one night, Maddy. This is gonna be hard enough to explain as it is._** With a roll of the eyes, Maddy reached out again, gently coaxing the Hulk back to let Bruce out again. Shuddering, the Hulk shrank again, leaving a very disoriented Bruce kneeling on the floor.

“What... what just...” Bruce fell forward onto his hands, his body limp and tired. “What happened?” Maddy knelt down in front of him, a comforting smile on her face.

“How do you feel?” Bruce groaned softly.

“Tired. I feel like I ran a marathon.” He looked up at her, confused and cautious. “What did I do?” Maddy’s smile turned a little sad. Of course he would think he’d done something wrong.

“You didn’t do anything. And neither did the Other Guy. I just let out some of the tension in your body. Hopefully you’ll sleep better now.” Bruce shook his head slowly, trying to clear the fog.

“Sleep sounds like a good idea right now.” Maddy stood, reaching out a hand. Shakily, Bruce grasped it lightly, letting her pull him up off the ground. With a hand on his shoulder, she walked him to the elevator.

**_Have fun explaining that to Tony._** Without turning, Maddy flipped her the bird, disappearing into the elevator to escort Bruce safely to his apartment. And hoping that by some miracle she’d be able to get Tony to understand. There’s enough room for more than one broken genius in her life.... right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not a psychologist or a medical professional. All information I found on dissociative identity disorder was found online.  
The information I referenced about the Hulk/Bruce Banner’s backstory was info I found online as well, so don’t hate.  
Thoughts? Anyone?
> 
> Should have said this before, but I don’t own any of Marvel’s characters, I only own Maddy and Emmaline.


	10. Ultimatum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Secretary of State Theodore “Thunderbolt” E. Ross arrives and goes head to head with Miss Madeline Smith. The Sokovia Accords are presented, and our lovely OCs have a private conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where we see the beginning of our big canon divergence.
> 
> ALSO  
There is some lovely foreshadowing in here, so pay attention!!

The next morning, breakfast was interrupted by a very insistent phone call.

“Boss, The Pirate is calling again.” Tony groaned, hunching over suddenly and nearly face-planting into his plate of scrambled eggs. When he lifted his head to say something, Maddy shoved a piece of French toast in his mouth.

“Patch him through please, FRIDAY.” She answered calmly, sitting down between Tony and Bruce, and ignoring both Bruce’s bright pink face and the general laughter as Tony choked on the sudden gag.

“Mr. Stark, how kind of you to finally answer your phone.”

“Good morning, Director. This is Mr. Stark’s assistant, Ms. Smith. I’m afraid Mr. Stark is a bit preoccupied right now, but I’ve got you on speaker phone.” The general noise of the room quieted slightly.

“Nice to know he’s got someone with manners nearby, Ms. Smith. I’m calling to let Mr. Stark and his fellow Avengers know that they’re about to have unexpected visitors.” Several forks froze midair as the team took in the Director’s cold tone. If Nick Fury was irritated, and they were about to get visitors, then they weren’t going to be having a particularly pleasant day.

“Is this a social call or a meeting, Director? And how long do you expect this visit to take?” Maddy’s voice was polite and unyielding, and judging by the responding huff, Fury felt the same way.

“Considering who’s visiting, I’d hardly call it a social anything, Ms Smith. The whole thing should take about five minutes, but you’re gonna want to make sure everyone’s present. Except Banner. Keep Banner in the lab until this whole thing blows over.” Steve looked at Nat, Sam looked at Clint, and Bruce just looked confused. Tony finally managed to swallow the French toast, and opened his mouth.

“Who’s coming, Boss-Man?” A quiet sigh crackled over the intercom.

“The Secretary of State. Thaddeus E. Ross.” The entire table got quite as Fury hung up. Bruce stood up with his still full plate of food and a large mug of coffee, and walked out of the room. Steve sighed, and Clint voiced everyone’s collective thoughts:

“Well, shit.”

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ten minutes later, everyone was still thinking that.

“Five years ago, I had a heart attack.” Secretary Ross stood at the head of the conference table, gesturing like he was holding a golf club. “I dropped, right in the middle of my backswing. Turned out it was the greatest round of my life, because after thirteen hours of surgery, and a triple bi-pass, I found something that 40 years in the army had never taught me: perspective.” The majority of the Avengers sat around the table, focused on their uninvited guest. Two minutes before Ross’ arrival, Fury had shown up and pulled Emmaline away for another “debriefing”, but as she could hear what was happening upstairs anyway, nobody was particularly worried about her missing the meeting; if anything, it made it easier that they didn’t have to explain who the orange telepathic cat was to a political figure. Maddy stood at attention at the back of the room, standing sentinel over Tony. “The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, and risked your lives. But while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some who would prefer the word ‘vigilantes.’” Nat interrupted politely.

“And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?” The question held a soft kind of danger, and Ross knew it.

“How about ‘dangerous? What would you call a group of U.S. based enhanced individuals, who routinely ignore sovereign borders, and inflict their will wherever they choose, and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind.” Ross’ tone stayed the same, but everyone could tell that, despite the diplomatic beginning to his speech, Ross was obviously not a fan. He walked over to a television screen, and turned it on to display new footage from the Chitauri attack in New York City. Faint screaming came from the civilians on the screen as the footage showed one of the whale-like Chitauri ships, then soldiers unable to make a difference, then the Hulk flying through one building and bouncing of a bank to catapult himself into another. Then, the screen changed to show a helicarrier going down into the water just outside of Washington D.C. Next, the city in Sokovia, raised into the air, crumbling into pieces and building falling over. Then, Maguth, with a building on fire and civilians carried out by EMT’s on stretchers and by other civilians, along with the ones who hadn’t been saved.

“Okay.” Steve dropped his hand from where it had been holding his jaw. “That’s enough.” Ross nodded to one of his team, who turned off the screen.

“In the past four years, you’ve operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That’s an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate.” Ross paused. “And I think we have a solution.” He reached a hand towards the agent with the remote, who handed him a thick stack of bound paper the size of a textbook. He slid it across the table to Wanda. He then began to make his way around the table. “The Sokovia Accords. Approved by 117 countries, it states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they’ll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary.” He stopped next to Steve, who’s face had slowly settled into a firm expression. He loosened his jaw to say something.

**_Don’t say anything, Steve. Don’t let him see your cards_**. Steve retightened his jaw and made eye contact with Ross, saying nothing.

“Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now? If I misplaced a couple 300 mega-pound nukes, you can bet there’d be consequences.” Ross turned and walked back towards the front, only to be interrupted.

“That’s an interesting statement to make, coming from the man who misplaced the Hulk for several years and yet still has a rather hefty job.” Heads turned towards the redhead in the back, whose face was uncharacteristically, frigidly polite. Ross raised his eyebrows at her.

“And who, my dear, are you?” Maddy gave him a friendly smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

“My name is Madeline Smith, sir.” Ross leaned forward, bracing his arms on the table.

“And is there a reason for your presence in this room, Ms. Smith? Last time I checked, there was no ‘Madeline Smith’ on the Avenger’s roster.”

“Oh I’m not an active duty member of the Avengers, Mr. Secretary. My responsibility is the emotional, mental, and physical well-being of the members of the team.” Maddy walked forward to stand at the opposite end of the table from Ross, still smiling. “And to answer your question, Mr. Secretary: yes, we do know where both Dr. Banner and Thor are. And while Thor Odinson may be a member of our team, he is not a United States citizen, nor a citizen of any country on Earth, and as an intergalactic ambassador is allowed to go where he likes. He is currently on Asgard, preparing to take a tour of several of the different realms in an attempt to secure alliances and identify threats.” Ross gave her a condescending smile, while the rest of the team watched them both with renewed interest and a little worry.

“Sweetheart, don’t talk to me about something you don’t know anything about.” Maddy’s smile turned a little feral.

“Two things, Secretary Ross: do not disrespect me with that kind of vocabulary. Just because you don’t like what I have to say doesn’t give you the privilege of treating me like an object or a pet. Second, I actually have a master’s degree in political science, and am very good friends with a very good lawyer in Hell’s Kitchen, so I know exactly what I’m talking about.” She tipped her head to one side a little. “FRIDAY, would you be a dear and play file 134B?”

“Certainly, Ms. Maddy.” The team looked at the screen with a little confusion, while Tony’s face broke into a grin. The screen lit with a crackling screen, then cleared to show body-camera footage of soldiers trapping Banner in a glass covered stone bridge. A few seconds later, two gas canisters shot into the enclosed space. Maddy spoke again.

“Side by side, files 134B and 134C.” The screen split, so that on the left-hand side it showed Banner yanking off his out shirt to cover his mouth as the bridge filled with gas, while the right-hand side showed the same view from about a hundred yards away, from behind a younger General Ross’ shoulder. A twenty-something young woman stood by his side. “Correct me if I’m somehow wrong, Mr. Secretary, but wouldn’t that would be Ms. Betty Ross, Bruce Banner’s long-term significant other and your only child?” The woman on the screen broke free of the soldier holding her arm and ran towards the building. ‘Get her back here,’ Ross’ voice called out on screen, and two soldiers ran after her. The first caught her elbow to the face, and the second tackled her to the ground, seconds before the Hulk smashed the glass of the bridge open. ‘Now she’ll see,’ came Ross’ voice again.

“That’s enough,” Ross growled, looking at Maddy, who conveniently ignored him.

“Now, for anyone in the room who wasn’t already aware, Secretary Theodore E. Ross, then General Ross, was the military official in charge of the gamma radiation project that would eventually create the Hulk. When the machinery they were using went off and Bruce Banner took the blow to save another scientist, instead of offering compensation or protection in return for peace, General Ross gave the order that the Hulk was to be arrested, contained, and, hopefully, either weaponized or exterminated. The Hulk disappeared for four years, and was finally found in Latin America. This interaction happened when Banner returned.” The footage continued to show one soldier moving forward to take on the Hulk on his own. “And this, ladies and gentlemen, is Emil Blonsky, a soldier serving under General Ross when their main priority was finding the Hulk. He was an arrogant, vicious bastard, who served in the military not because of duty, but because he liked violence. Blonsky was chosen by General Ross to undergo a preliminary transformation to create a supersoldier, in the hopes of conquering the Hulk by force. Needless to say, it didn’t work, and as a result, Blonksy became obsessed with the Hulk. FRIDAY, file 135.” The footage changed to the security feed of a science lab. "After recovering from his one-on-one fight with the Hulk, Blonksy approached Samuel Sterns, a scientist that had managed to synthesize Banner’s blood, and demanded that he receive a transfusion of the blood in the hopes of becoming like the Hulk. The result was this.” The footage showed Blonsky’s transformation, changing into a Hulk-sized, vaguely humanoid creature.

“Enough!” Secretary Ross shouted, his face turning almost purple.

“No, I’m not so sure. Friday, let’s try file 141A.” The screen changed to show Harlem at night. Various cars and debris were in flames, as the Abomination smashed his way through. The footage showed Banner smashing into the concrete, still his normal self, then the Hulk pulling himself from the hole in the ground. The fight continued, until the Abomination lay unconscious in the rubble. The screen turned black. “The cost of every altercation with the Hulk that was started by the United Stated military, under your command, has been calculated to be over 3.7 million dollars in damage.” She gave him a small, cold smile. “You didn’t just, ‘misplace a 300 mega-pound nuke’, Ross, you made an enemy of the first one and then created a second, unstable one. And yet here you are, Secretary of State.” Her polite smile morphed into a very cold expression. “Your mistreatment of people, power, and science show that you don’t like what you can’t control, and unfortunately, the Avengers have fallen under that category.” She picked up the Accords, using them to gesture towards a still very purple-faced Secretary Ross. “We’ll discuss the Sokovia Accords, Mr. Secretary, and we’ll send a representative to the UN meeting in Vienna in three days with our decision. And unless you have anything else constructive to say, I’m sure you and your bodyguards can find your way out on your own.” Uncharacteristically speechless, Ross made his way to the door. “And Mr. Secretary.” He turned, eyes fiery. She gave him a lopsided, condescending smile. “Next time you want something from us, send someone else.” And with that, he and his entourage left, shutting the door behind them. Silence settled on the room as the team stared, speechless, first at the door, then at Maddy. She let out a huff of a breath, then stood up straight with a professional smile, carrying the Accords with her as she walked around the table to stand in front of the television screen.

“FRIDAY, if you would please digitize the Sokovia Accords and send them to everyone individually, along with a summary of its contents? Also, please arrange for transportation for the team for the UN meeting in Vienna in three days.”

“Of course, miss.” Maddy smiled, then turned towards the team.

“We can talk about this in a couple hours. I expect everyone -“ she shot Tony a firm look - “to actually read the damn thing, and we’ll make a decision then.” She turned to look at Steve. “Captain, I think you and Natasha would be the best people to attend the UN meeting, but, barring a last minute emergency, I suggest sending the entire team to Vienna as backup. There are a couple of individuals that would make exemplary allies, and I have a hunch that this is not going to go over smoothly.” Maddy’s smile dropped. “It is incredibly important that any decision made by the team be unanimous. So we’re going to discuss this until the entire team agrees.” Steve and Tony both looked at her with disbelief. Maddy gave them a grin. “So if that means I have to have the two of you take a couple hours to work off all your testosterone, so be it.” Natasha chuckled quietly, and Maddy shot her a grateful smile. “Until then, go read the blasted document, and I’ll go order lunch.” Maddy turned and walked out the door, back straight, until she made it into the elevator. She let out a breath, half sigh and half groan, melting into a slouch against the elevator wall.

_**That was quite the performance. **_Maddie huffed out a laugh, rubbing at the headache that had steadily grown since the beginning of the meeting.

**_I’m glad you enjoyed that. Figured chewing him out verbally was a better idea than you chewing him up literally. _**The elevator stopped and the door opened to let her out onto the administrative level.

_**C’mon, it would’ve been fun.**_ Maddy could feel Emmaline’s grin, and responded with an eye-roll.

_**Yeah, but you getting stuck on the Raft wouldn’t be worth it.**_ Maddy closed her office door behind her, moving to drop the Accords onto the desk with a heavy thump, settling into a surprisingly comfortable chair.

_**Yeah, yeah, you’re right.**_ Maddy snorted lightly, waking her computer and wishing for a cup of coffee.

**_Aren’t I always?_** “FRIDAY, please send a message to the Wakandan ambassador to the United States, politely requesting a potential meeting in the next few weeks.”

“I’ll draft that out and send it to your email for you to edit and send.”

**_Don’t you have a four-hundred page document to read?_** Maddy groaned lightly in response, letting her head fall into her hands with her elbows propping her up on the desk. “FRIDAY, send the usual order to the Chinese place for lunch please, and ask one of the interns to run a drinks errand.”

** _Don’t remind me. Don’t you have to read it too?_ **

** _Already did. What’d you think I was doing all this time?_ **

**_I don’t know, probably either giving Fury a migraine or beating up cocky SHIELD agents. _**Emmaline’s laughter echoed across her mind, inspiring her own in response. When their laughter died away, Emmaline sighed.

_**Yeah, Fury gave me the run down about the Accords and basically told me it’d be in my best interest to “retire.”**_ Her frustration leaked across a little, replacing the humor of the conversation. _**I mean, I just started with these guys, and now he’s telling me to go back into hiding?!**_ Maddy pulled out her water bottle and a couple painkillers, throwing them back before pulling the Accords towards her.

_**You wanna talk about this in person? Over coffee, maybe? That damn meeting gave me a massive headache. **_Maddy smiled a little. **_Plus, you owe me an explanation about what the hell’s going on with you and the Dream Team. _**Emmaline snorted.

**_Sure, I’ll be up in like 5 with coffee. But you better be ready to explain why Stark won’t look at me without turning into a sputtering red tomato._** Maddy laughed again as the connection closed, and was still chuckling faintly when Emmaline walked in, human hair pinned back into soft curls with a pair of aviators perched on top of her head. Maddy’s eyebrows rose, even as she reached out for one of the coffees in Emmaline’s hands.

“So are you just blatantly trying to give the poor man a heart attack, or what?” Emmaline dropped dramatically into the chair across the desk, placing a hand on her chest.

“I’m offended, really. To think you think so little of me. What if I just like this hairstyle?” Maddy scoffed daintily.

“FRIDAY, disable all recordings of this room until Miss Emmaline leaves.” Ignoring the AI’s response, she fixed the other woman with an unimpressed look. “You never dress up unless you either have to, or you’re trying to catch someone’s eye. I mean really, victory rolls? Could you be any more obvious?” She let a smirk spread across her face. “Plus, I betcha Barton would have his eyes glued to your ass if he could see you like this.”

“That’s the problem.” Emmaline sat up a little. “I’m never around the team in this form. I’m always in cat form, and it’s driving me nuts.” She picked a hair off her skinny jeans and dropped it into the trash. “I mean, it almost doesn’t even matter what happens with the damn Accords, cause it’s not like I’m going to ever be able just be myself with them.” Maddy frowned as Emmaline took a long sip of her coffee.

“First of all, that’s not true. There is literally nothing stopping you from being in this form around everyone else. Just because you want to keep secrets from them doesn’t mean you have to. Second, this thing is actually REALLY important. Either the team signs it and they’re under the UN’s thumb for the rest of their professional lives, or they retire and try to live normal lives.” Maddy growled under her breath, trying to resist the urge to rip the document up. “I mean really, what kind of choice is that? It’s literally action and slavery versus inaction and freedom.” Emmaline pulled her cup away from her mouth, swallowing loudly.

“You need a nap.” Maddy sighed loudly, dropping her head onto the Accords with a thump.

“I still wish it was possible to absorb information through osmosis.” Emmaline snorted, leaning over to pat Maddy on the head facetiously.

“Poor baby.” Maddy lifted her head to shoot her a glare, to which Emmaline just responded by laughing. “Tell you what, I’ll pass you the information telepathically later when your headache’s gone.” Maddy blinked, then let a grin spread across her face.

“You are a saint.” Emmaline snorted louder this time, throwing her feet up on the edge of Maddy’s desk.

“The day they make me a saint is the day the Pope gives Tony his hat.” A mischievous light glowed in her eyes. “Speaking of which, spill.” Maddy sank back in her seat, her cheeks turning very pink. “C’mon, the least you can do is tell me what’s going on so I can use it to my advantage.” Maddy glared half-heartedly at her before huffing.

“Tony... is under the impression... that you’ve been spending nights in his bed for the past two weeks.” Emmaline’s jaw dropped open a little.

“What??! What the hell, Madeline! Why does he think that? He doesn’t - “ Maddy turned a darker shade of pink. “_Madeline Smith, you haven’t told them yet?_”

“No!” Maddy yelped defensively, glaring back at her. “No, and I’m not _going to_ until I’m ready to have that conversation with them.” She sighed, melting back into the chair. “At this point we might as well tell the team together.” She took another long drink form her coffee.

“Yeah, probably.” Emmaline quirked an eyebrow at her, a smile spreading. “But still, why does Tony think I’ve been in his bed?” Maddy choked on her coffee a little. “C’mon, you gotta give me at least a little bit.” She snickered lightly as Maddy forced down a swallow.

“I found - “ Maddy panted a little, bumping a fist against her chest, coughing a little. “I found ginger cat hair in his bedding a couple nights ago.” She looked up to see Emmaline leaning forward with wide eyes. “Plus, I mean, you’re the only size-changing cat they’ve met, so he just assumed it was you.” Maddy finished off her cup, watching over the rim as Emmaline leaned back, a slow smile spreading across her face.

“Wow.”She puffed out a short laugh. “Damn, that is some _fantastic_ material.” Maddy smirked at her, tossing her cup into the trash with a flick of the wrist.

“Better not let poor, sweet Steven hear you, or he’ll think Tony’s competition.” Emmaline turned pink. “Speaking of which, what on earth is that about?” She lifted an eyebrow at Emmaline’s bright red face and responding mumble. “I’m sorry, what?”

“He’s my soulmate, okay?!” Emmaline buried her face in her hands.

“What?!” Maddy leaned forward, her jaw loose in shock. “Since _when_?!”

“Since the fight with the fire demons in the Hudson,” Emmaline grumbled, the flaming blush fading slowly from her face. “Thor came and got me on my way home from school so I could help.” A light burned brightly in her eyes as she thought about the fight and the aftermath. “When we finished, I was like the size of a bus, and the team freaked out. Thor started talking, and I had to pounce on him to get him to shut the fuck up. But then Steve walks up and starts petting my damn nose, no fear at all, and all of a sudden - “

“It’s like someone turned all your bones to goo and you just want to melt?” Emmaline looked up at the interruption to meet Maddy’s bright eyes, and nodded gently.

“Yeah, like that.” She paused, then huffed. “Of course, the mark’s the size of a fingerprint on my nose, and it’s not like the you can see the fucking thing through my damn fur.” Maddy nodded in response.

“And the other two? When’d that happen?” Emmaline shrugged deceptively, but turned a faint pink all over again.

“On the roof, while they were on patrol. Not together, though. And again, it’s not like they can even tell through all the damn fur.” Maddy grinned.

“Where?” Emmaline huffed in exasperation, but stood up to pull her polka-dot blouse out of her jeans. She lifted it on one side and turned to show Maddy the clear handprint on her ribcage. “That’s hers. His goes literally from the top of my head all the way down to my ass.” Maddy smirked, leaning back in her chair.

“Always knew he was an ass man.” They laughed together, then stopped suddenly.

“Did you - “ they said suddenly, then stopped. Silently, Emmaline moved into the connected intern’s office, out of sight, while Maddy turned to her computer and typed quietly for a few seconds. Suddenly, a click and a hiss went off in the ceiling, and a very dirty Clint Barton fell onto the floor.

“_Dammit_, Clint Barton, if you weren’t a valuable member of this team I’d skin you alive right now.” Maddy scolded, now pointing a gun at him with surprisingly steady hands. He just groaned, laying in a heap on the floor. “What the _fuck_ are you doing in the vents above my office, Barton?” He grunted in response, holding a healing bullet wound on his hip.

“Shit, Maddy, why’d you go and drop me on my ass for?”Maddy raised an eyebrow in response, moving around the desk.

“I’m gonna fucking kick your ass, Agent, unless you tell me what the fuck you were doing eavesdropping on a private conversation from in the air ducts.” She tipped her head to one side. “Better yet, I’ll have Emmaline take a bite out of your ass. Now talk.” He groaned again rolling onto his knees and pulling himself up off the floor slowly.

“I wanted to talk about the damn Accords with you, but then FRIDAY said you wanted to be left alone, so I wanted to see what the hell was going on.” A grin split his face. “Honestly, I was kinda hoping you and Tony were making like rabbits so I could take a picture and torture him with it.” Maddy went to deck him, but he dodged, only to suddenly seize up and fall onto his face on the floor. Emmaline stood behind him with a low-voltage taser, turning it off when he was for sure unconscious. Maddy’s jaw dropped, sputtering a little. Emmaline just shrugged in response to her unasked question.

“What? He needed to shut up, and it’s not like you were actually going to be able to hit him.” She knelt down, sliding a hand underneath one cheek and turning his head to one side. She shivered a little, watching in fascination as a rainbow bloomed where their skin touched. “I’ll carry him downstairs to medical.” Emmaline’s face was nonchalant, almost uncaring, except for the way her eyes shone with wonder and the faint wavering of her voice. She slung him over her shoulder, walking to the door.

“Emmaline,” Maddy called out, watching as Emmaline turned to look at her. “Don’t leave him in the dark for too long.” A silent nod, and she disappeared. Maddy lowered herself back into her chair, staring at the Accords without seeing. After a few moments, FRIDAY spoke up.

“Ms. Maddy, the team has finished eating and are starting to argue. If you’d like to avoid violence, I’d suggest you make your way down.” She groaned loudly, leaning forward to gently bounce her forehead off the thick document.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuuuuuuuuuuck....” With a loud sigh, she pulled herself out of her chair. Right on time, Emmaline passed her her photographic memories of the document. Praying silently to... whatever deity was listening, for whatever amount of patience they had to share, that this would be okay. She made her way to the elevator, leaning against the back wall as the doors shut.

“Please, don’t let this all go to fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should probably also add that the entire section where Ross is talking, up until Maddy jumps in, is all transcribed from the movie, and is therefore not my property. Everything else is mine, though.
> 
> I would also like to add that I absolutely HATE Ross. Like, a lot. Just in case you couldn’t tell.
> 
> Pleeeeeease leave comments.


	11. United We Stand, Divided We Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Conversation regarding the Sokovia Accords, Peggy’s funeral, and a lovely conversation between our dear Captain and Miss Emmaline.

“Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is one more than you have.” Rhodey and Sam stood behind the table, about three feet apart, having what Maddy would probably describe as one of the quietest and least violent arguments ever to take place in the tower. She walked around them to the sink, filling a large mug with coffee and walked over to Tony, who sat slouched incredibly low on the couch. She handed him both the mug and a bottle of aspirin, answering his raised eyebrow with a wink.

“So let's say we agree to this thing. How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?”

“A 117 countries want to sign this. 117, Sam, and you're just like, ‘No, that's cool. We got it.’”

“How long are you going to play both sides?” Vision interrupted, leaning forward.

“I have an equation.”

“Oh, this will clear it up.” The team turned to Vision, who leaned forward. Maddy’s eyes caught on Wanda instead, who sat next to him, staring at her hands.

“In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. And during the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate.”

“Are you saying it's our fault?”

“I'm saying there may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict... breeds catastrophe. Oversight... oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand.”

“Boom.” Maddy turned toward Rhodey, her mouth set in a stern frown.

“Tony.” He looked towards Natasha in response. “You are being uncharacteristically non-hyper-verbal.”

“It's because he's already made up his mind.” Tony rolled his eyes, tossing back a couple pills with coffee.

“Boy, you know me so well. Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache. That's what's going on, Cap. It's just pain. It's discomfort.” He tossed his phone onto the coffee table, watching with feigned disinterest as a photograph lit up on the projected hologram. “Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way. He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA. Had a floor level gig at Intel planned for the fall. But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul, before he parked it behind a desk. See the world. Maybe be of service. Charlie didn't want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where, Sokovia.” The air turned stale, and Maddy watched Tony’s face go cold, the way it did when he was trying to protect himself by pretending to not care. “He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. I mean, we won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass.” He paused, taking another drink from the mug in his hand. “There's no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less, we're no better than the bad guys.”

“Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don't give up.” Steve pitched in lowly.

“Who said we're giving up?”

“We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions. This document just shifts the blames.” Rhodey jumped in again.

“I'm sorry. Steve. That - that is dangerously arrogant. This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council, it's not SHIELD, it's not HYDRA.”

“Enough.” Everyone turned to Maddy, whose face had settled into a firm expression. “Colonel Rhodes, I mean no disrespect, but you’re not actually on our roster.” He opened his mouth, shocked, but no words came out. ”Is it safe for us to assume that you’ve decided to sign the Accords?” Closing his jaw, he nodded slowly. She answered with a polite, almost cold smile. “Then I’d like to politely ask you to remove yourself from the room. As an employee of the U.S. military, your loyalty is to them first, and the Avengers second. Which,” she held up a hand when he went to interject again, “which I understand, and I don’t fault you for. But everyone else has a decision to make, and I’d appreciate it if they were able to do that without biased help.” Nodding slowly, Rhodey made his way to the elevator with a rigid spine, disappearing behind its door. She turned to the rest of the silent room.

“Agent Barton is in medical.” Again, she raised her hand as several people started talking, asking what had happened. When it was silent again, she continued. “He was caught eavesdropping on a private conversation I was having in my office with another employee, and she tased him.” Her mouth twitched in an effort not to smile as everyone in the room shared quiet laughter. “Be that as it may, both he and Doctor Banner have made the decision to retire. However, we have a bit of an issue here.” Maddy turned to Vision. “I’m afraid your equation is incorrect, Vision.” Ignoring the looks of confusion and surprise on everyone’s faces, she continued. “In the past eight years since Tony’s debut as Iron-Man, the number of enhanced persons that the government and the media are aware of has grown, but the number of enhanced persons that exist has barely changed.” Scooping up Tony’s phone from the coffee table, she ignored his squawk and played with the coding until a list - a very long list - came up on the screen. “This is the number of known “enhanced” individuals in the world, the majority of which are either under surveillance of one sort or another, or are currently frozen on the Raft. This list does not include the colony of Inhumans currently living on the Eurasian continent, but seeing as how they mostly keep to themselves, they’re not a threat nor a concern.” She closed down the projection and fixed his phone back to normal. “The honest truth is that Loki and the Chitauri would have attacked New York City whether the Avengers existed or not, and I can assure you that had y’all not pulled your heads out of your asses in time to play defense, that battle would have ended much differently. Also, it’s not the Avengers’ fault that Loki was able to get here through the cube, because that blame falls on the combination of SHIELD and Hydra.” She stood at the end of the table across from Steve, hands on her hips. “Of all the battles that the Avengers have fought, the government and the world at large know about only two: New York, which was not your fault, and Ultron.” Wanda looked back down at her hands, and Tony looked like Maddy had just hit him in the gut with a 2x4. She gave him a sad smile. “And Ultron was a complicated mess. Yes there were a lot of casualties. And yes, it could have been and should have been avoided. And yes,” Maddy looked around, fortifying her poker face to hide the fact that she really just wanted to cry. “There’s a lot of penance that should be done to fix this. But the government doesn’t care about penance.” She scooped up the Accords from off the table, and waved it at them. “This isn’t about wanting the Avengers to make up for the damage done and the lives lost because of Ultron. This is about fear.” She paused, looking at each of them and silently begging them to understand. “The United Nations want you to sign this document because they’re afraid that if something happens - if they decide to do something that the Avengers don’t like - then they’ll have someone to answer to. Because the Avengers can make a difference when a foreign government would get so tied up in legal documents and foreign policy that it wouldn’t even be worth trying.” Maddy tossed the document back onto the table. “They see you as their biggest potential enemy. But maybe it’s time they realized that you’re really their greatest potential ally. So!” She clapped her hands, jolting Pietro out of his nap in the corner and startling everyone out of their thoughts. “Unless anyone has any objections, here’s what we’re going to do. First, everyone - “ she glared around the room, “ - everyone will be going to Vienna for the UN Meeting, and no one in this room is going to sign a damn thing. Then, once that’s over, Clint and Nat are going to go stay with his sister Laura; Bruce will be staying nearby them in a small house of his own that’ll be outfitted with whatever he’ll need to finish his doctorate. Wanda, Pietro, and Vision, the three of you are going to visit a friend of mine in Katmandú, Nepal.” She gave Wanda a gentle smile, then turned to grin at Tony. “Tony, if I can make a miracle happen, you and Peter have a play date with a scientific kid genius from Wakanda, and if I can convince his mother, your friend Harley will be coming too, and, ” she held up her hand as Steve opened his mouth to object, “the girl’s older brother and I will be running interference on anything they create, so there’s no need to worry. You, Steve, are going to be going on a backpacking trip with Sam, if he’s willing, to look for your friend.” Steve’s face softened, then jumped a little when his phone vibrated violently. His face fell, and Maddy’s eyes widened. He looked up at her, and she could see the way he broke on the inside. “Go, Steve, you don’t have to ask.” He pulled himself out of his chair, almost staggering to the elevator. Maddy leaned forward against the table, hanging her head. After a moment or two, she looked up to the team, who watched her in confusion and concern. “Peggy - “ she choked a little, shaking her head. “Peggy Carter passed away.” The empty coffee mug slid out of Tony’s fingers, shattering on the floor. He ignored the mess, walking out without a word towards the stairs to the lab. Maddy pushed off the table, looking at the team. “The Accords can wait.” She paused before heading back to her office. “FRIDAY, alert maintenance to the mess.” And with that, she returned to her desk, and called the nursing home. Director Margaret Carter deserved a fine as hell funeral, and she’d be damned if she’d let the fucking government get in the way.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The funeral took place in one of those beautifully old Catholic chapels, the kind with stained-glass windows and resonating acoustics. The priest, a dark-skinned older man with gentle eyes who’d know Peggy for a very long time, greeted them quietly at the side entrance to the church, and was kind enough to let them in a little over two hours early. Tony didn’t come, but no one was particularly surprised or begrudging of that; a grieving Tony wasn’t the kind of person that could play nice in public. Besides, the lack of Iron-Man kept the paparazzi down quite well. Everyone else was there, though, even the ones like the twins who hadn’t known her. It just seemed like the right thing to do, to pay their respects to a woman who had done so much. And anyone who’d seen Steve lately knew that he needed all the support he could get.

The team scattered through the room, sitting in groups of two or three. Vision, Wanda, and Pietro sat together in a pew near the back and off to the side; Maddy and Bruce sat close to the side entrance; Natasha and a very sore and rainbow-faced Clint each stood in a back corner; and Sam sat in the second row from the front next to a human Emmaline, saving a seat for Steve for when his duties as pallbearer were done. The boy’s choir began soon after the doors opened, filling the hall with soft music as the pews began to fill. On the hour, the casket came into view. Steve stood at the front, bearing the weight on his shoulder, his eyes blurry and unfocused. Once they’d placed their burden at the front of the chapel, Steve sat next to Sam at the very end of the pew, as the Father stood at the podium.

“And now, I would like to invite Sharon Carter to come up and say a few words.” Maddy flicked her eyes to Emmaline, whose spine got a little straighter.

_ **You okay, Em?** _

**_Yeah, I’m good. She’s not a threat_**. Maddy swallowed the urge to snort, refocusing on Sharon as she opened her mouth to speak.

“Margaret Carter was known to most as a founder of SHIELD . . . but I just knew her as Aunt Peggy.” Emmaline felt and heard Steve’s small intake of breath, and tried not to frown. Sharon’s eye’s flicked to Steve and away, focusing on a point on the back wall as she continued. “She had a photograph in her office. Aunt Peggy standing next to JFK. As a kid, that was pretty cool. But it was a lot to live up to. Which is why I never told anyone we were related.” She straightened, and looked directly at Steve. “I asked her once how she managed to master diplomacy and espionage in a time when no one wanted to see a woman succeed at either. And she said, compromise where you can. But where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move . . . it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in they eye and say ‘No, you move.’” Sharon continued, talking a little about sacrifice and hard work, but Emmaline’s mind had floated elsewhere. That’s what the Accords were: a compromise. And yeah, they probably should’ve been a little more grateful that the United Nations were willing to give them this much of a leash. They’d done a lot of damage, after all. And yet... Emmaline looked at Steve, who’s face had taken on the appearance of stone, his jaw set. She sent her mind out reaching in every direction. And everyone had come to the same conclusion: they would not be signing those damned documents, regardless of Maddy’s declaration. And when the government needed them, then they’d talk about just what it meant to save the world.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The funeral lasted a few hours, but it felt like only minutes. When the closing prayer was finished, and the mourning tones of the organ filled the hall again, the congregation stood and began to chat quietly. With a clap on the shoulder, Sam left Steve’s side to have a conversation with Clint, who’d somehow managed to sleep through everything after Sharon had finished speaking, which was especially impressive considering the fact that he’d been standing the entire time. Sharon made her way through the crowd towards Steve, and Emmaline slid off to chat with a few of the churchgoers who’d known Peggy before she’d become Agent or Director. So by the time Sharon stood in front of him, Steve was by himself. He gave her a small smile.

“Agent Thirteen.” She gave him the smallest of smiles, unafraid.

“Captain Rogers. Thank you for coming.“ Steve nodded. Sharon cleared her throat, looking down at the clutch in her hands then back up at him. “My mom tried to talk me out of enlisting, but, um, not Aunt Peggy. She bought me my first thigh holster.” Steve’s smile grew a little sadder.

“Very practical.”

“And stylish.” The conversation died again, both sides wondering silently what to say. Finally, Steve broke the silence.

“CIA has you stationed over here now?” She shook her head softly.

“In Berlin, Joint Terrorism Task Force.”

“Right. Right. Sounds fun.”

“I know, right?” The awkwardness faded a little, and Steve looked her in the eyes, expression softening.

“I've been meaning to ask you. When you were spying on me from across the hall . . . .” She smiled a little bigger, recognizing the jest.

“You mean when I was doing my job.” Steve nodded, moving on.

“Did Peggy know?” Sharon stopped, looking back down at her clutch.

“She kept so many secrets. I didn't want her to have one from you.” Her voice had gone a little pitchy, trying to fight back the emotion. One hand moved to rub at her forearm, and a flash of color caught Steve’s eye. His smile grew a little.

“Soulmate?” Her face turned a little pink, and her smile warmed.

“Yeah. Met him at work, actually. He went to move my arm position during the first firearms training.” She nodded towards the back of the slowly emptying chapel, and Steve turned to see a man in dark plainclothes, having a polite conversation with Natasha near the door. She spoke up again as Steve turned back towards her. “I just want you to know that she remembered you, even to the moment when she passed. Even when she’d forgotten everyone else, she could still remember you.” She tipped her head a little to one side, looking at him with honest eyes. “You were one of the only people in her life that took her seriously from the beginning, that she didn’t have to prove herself to. And it meant a lot to her.” An older woman came over, gently tugging on Sharon’s arm. She turned from Steve, listening to the woman’s soft words, then looked back at him. “I have to go.” She shook his hand with a firm grip. “Thank you for coming, Captain, and may the Lord be with you.” And with that, she turned with the woman on her elbow and walked away. Steve sank into the pew, hunched over with his elbows on his knees, eyes staring off into space. Slowly, the crowd thinned, and after a little while, a pair of shiny black dress shoes appeared in his line of vision.

“And here I thought you’d be surrounded by little old ladies, chatting about the good old days.” Steve looked up to meet Tony’s eyes, raising his eyebrows at the only mild taunt and the look of buried pain in Tony’s eyes.

“Thought you weren’t coming.” Tony shrugged, not bothering to make up an excuse.

“Came in right after you did, actually. Quite the speech Agent Carter gave, especially the timing. Wonder how much she knows.” Steve stood, stiff but not posturing.

“Enough to know that we needed the advice.” Tony turned, both of them wandering towards the front where the casket still sat, next to a display of old photographs. The silence settled between them, hesitant, and vulnerable. After a minute or two, Tony spoke.

“She was my godmother.” Steve looked at him, eyebrows raised, as Tony ignored him to scoop up a picture of Peggy in uniform. “As a kid, she was one of only three people in my life that I could always count on.” He trailed off, staring at the picture before reverently placing it back. He cleared his throat, still not looking at Steve. “She was there for every graduation, all of my childhood birthdays, and almost every holiday. I knew she worked for the government, I knew she was busy and couldn’t stay in one place for long, but I always knew she cared.” He looked at Steve, his patent care-free expression returning to his face. “She coulda told me the truth about you, but I mean, even Aunt Peggy wasn’t immune to the Golden Boy glow.” Steve huffed, shaking his head a little.

“Tony, I met Peggy when I was five-foot-five and a hundred pounds soaking wet. I had more allergies and health problems than most people get in a lifetime, and I couldn’t keep up with the other soldiers to save my life. She watched me throw myself on top of a dummy grenade and jump out of a plane without a parachute into occupied Germany, for pity’s sake. I hardly think she was that impressed.” Tony looked at Steve, interest written all across his face. Steve met Tony’s eyes, a small smile on his face again. “First time I saw her, we were lined up on our first day in Camp Lehigh, and she comes walking up in a uniform, calls us to attention, and starts telling us about the SSR. This big guy a little ways down from me starts mouthing off at her, and she knocked him onto the ground with one hit to the face.” They both smiled, Steve at the memory and Tony at the idea. Slowly, Steve’s smile faded. “Tony, I’m sorry about your father.” Tony’s expression closed immediately.

“Look, Cap, just cause we’re in a church doesn’t mean I’m gonna forgive the bastard who-“

“I don’t blame you.” Tony stopped, blinking at him. Steve continued, watching Tony’s face. “Look, I didn’t know Howard well, and we certainly weren’t friends. Yeah, he gave me the shield and a uniform, and he flew me to Germany to rescue my best friend, and for that I’m grateful. But he was a self-absorbed man, obsessed with his work and uncaring of other people’s emotions. So I can only imagine what it must have been like to have him as a parent. But despite all that, you’ve become an incredible influence in the world, and a pretty good man.” The silence settled between them, still tense but less caustic. A moment or two later, Maddy approached, handing Steve a small bunch of flowers.

“My condolences for your loss, Steve. I know she meant a lot to you.” Steve turned towards her, the polite smile frozen on his face again as he took the flowers. Maddy looked at him, a sad understanding in her eyes. “Steve, you don’t have to pretend.” His face softened a little.

“I’ll be alright.” She smiled a little, nodding softly.

“We’ll see you back at the tower?” Steve nodded in response, watching as they both walked away, Tony being uncharacteristically quiet. Steve looked around at the almost empty chapel, then back to the pictures in front of him. The organ music had died a while ago, and the sound of chatter slowly died off as well. A soft voice at his elbow pulled him out of his thoughts.

“She really was something special, huh?” He looked over at Emmaline, then looked back of the photographs.

“When I came out of the ice, I thought everyone I had known was gone. Then I found out that she was alive. I was just lucky to have her.” Emmaline smiled, looking him.

“She had you back too, Steve, and I’m sure it meant the world to her.” They stood in silence for a little while, then he sighed.

“Has anyone signed?” She tipped her head to one side, gauging his reaction.

“No. Everyone’s on their way back to the tower now, and Tony’s been talking about using it to start up the fire pit on the roof.” Steve finally turned towards her, momentarily distracted a little from his grief.

“There’s a fire pit on the roof?” She grinned.

“Not yet, but give him five minutes and I think he can rig something up. Plus, Maddy’s been itching to set something on fire.” They both laughed softly. After a minute or two, she spoke again, this time a little more hesitant. “I think we can find him.” Steve’s face fell, looking down at his shoes.

“Doll, I’ve tried, but it’s been months and we’ve found nothing.” Emmaline interrupted before he could get much farther.

“Steve, I mean I think I can help.” His head popped back up, eyebrows scrunched slightly in confusion. She smiled a little at him. “What? You think I’m gonna let you wander the world like a sad puppy, looking for your long lost love while I stay here and babysit Tony? Not on your life.” She gave him an exaggerated grimace, then grinned when he chuckled. “Besides, I’m a mind reader, Cap. You’re gonna want my help when you find him.” Her grin softened as she watched his face fall a little. “Let’s just get through this mess with the Accords, then we’ll see what we can do, okay?” Steve nodded, and her smile grew warm. “Come on home to the tower when you’re ready, hun. No pressure, okay?” Her voice was warm, and quiet, and he tried not to cry at the way she warmed his heart. Emmaline tipped her head to one side, holding her arms out. “Come here.” She pulled him into a hug, holding him tight, like trying to squeeze him hard enough to put him back together again. A fire exploded inside of him at her touch, the suddenness of it pulling the waiting tears from his eyes to let them pour them down his cheeks. She pulled away reluctantly, reaching up to wipe the tears from his face. “It’s gonna hurt for a while, but it goes numb eventually. Just because she’s gone, doesn’t mean you can stop living, Steve.” Emmaline smiled again, one filled with compassion and more than a little sadness. She stepped away slowly, retreating until only their hands still touched. She squeezed gently, then let go. “The plane for Vienna leaves tomorrow morning at nine.” Steve rolled his shoulders, standing up a little straighter.

“What’s the plan?” Emmaline stood tall in response, professionalism taking over.

“Maddy, Nat, and I are going to the actual meeting, and everyone else is running back-up in case anything goes sideways.” He nodded firmly, looking towards Peggy’s casket, then back to Emmaline with a determined look.

“I’ll be there.” Emmaline smiled and gave him a cheeky salute, then turned an about-face and walked confidently towards the door, where the rest of the team had recently disappeared. Steve huffed out a laugh, looking back again towards the casket surrounded by roses and old photographs. And for the first time in a while, he sent up a silent prayer, and wondered when he’d come to depend on so many broken people to make him whole again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I included as much canon dialogue as fit with the divergence, as as such I would like to say I most certainly do NOT own Marvel, or any of it’s characters.


	12. Old Man Barton Had A Farm, E-I-E-I-O

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie, this is a LOT more angst-y than I originally thought.
> 
> Herein lies the UN Council meeting, where we meet our lovely Wakandan King and his son, as well as our bomber. And the contention begins.
> 
> Just a reminder, we’re in the middle of our canon divergence here, so bear with me.

The last-minute gathering of the United Nations council had the world on it’s tiptoes. Reporters from various different countries stood stationed with cameras pointed towards the building, while several swarms of civilians flashed cameras behind safety lines. The quiet hum of the conference room, however, was a sharp contrast to the swarmed drive leading up to it. Older men sat in a semicircle, chatting quietly, and the view of the city was silent. If the occupants in the room were upset or disturbed by the events that had inspired such a short-notice meeting, they didn’t say so. Or at least, they didn’t say it to Natasha.

“Ms. Romanoff.” Nat turned to greet the speaker, a dark skinned man with a soft voice. “I suppose neither of us is used to the spotlight.” Maddy stood a few steps away, having a conversation in Spanish with a rather smitten ambassador from Argentina. Natasha gave the man a polite smile, dipping her head.

“Well, it's not always so flattering.”

“You seem to be doing alright so far. Considering your last trip to Capitol Hill . . . I wouldn't think you would be particularly comfortable in this company.” Maddy shook the ambassador’s hand, returning the offered besos on each cheek, then walked over to stand at Natasha’s elbow.

“Well, I'm not, but being here with backup makes it all the easier.” He turned to Maddy, who smiled as Nat gestured between them. “This is Madeline Smith, Mr. Stark’s personal assistant, and by extension, the personal assistant for the Avengers. Maddy, this is Prince T’Challa, son of King T’Chakka, and heir to the throne of Wakanda.” T’Challa smiled a little, bowing slightly. Maddy returned both the bow and the smile, her eyes lit with a quiet energy.

“Kuluyolo ukudibana nawe, Mnyama Panther.” His eyes lit up a little at the sound of his mother tongue. She grinned back at him before switching back to English. “Tell me, you don’t seem particularly pleased to be here. Do you not approve of this?” Nat watched the two interacting for a moment before walking away to speak with someone from the Ukraine, more than a little proud of Maddy’s skills in such a delicate environment. T’Challa’s eyes grew a little more serious, though no less friendly.

“The Accords, yes. The politics, not really. Two people in a room can get more done than a hundred.”

“Unless you need to move a piano.” The two turned to greet the speaker, a dark skinned man who looked like an older, scarred version of T’Challa.

“Baba.” The man smiled briefly at him.

“Nya.” He turned to face Maddy. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“Baba, this is Madeline Smith, with the Avengers. Miss Smith, this is my father, King T’Chakka of Wakanda.” She gave a warm, polite smile and a little deeper bow than the one she gave T’Challa.

“Your Grace. Please, allow me to apologize for what happened in Nigeria.”

“Thank you. Thank you for agreeing to all this. I'm sad to hear that Captain Rogers will not be joining us today.” She dipped her head, her expression never changing from polite and kind.

“Yes, I’m afraid there was a family emergency that required his attention.”

“If everyone could please be seated. This assembly is now in session.”

“That is the future calling. Such a pleasure.”

“Thank you.” With another nod, and a smile towards T’Challa, Maddy turned and walked towards her seat next to Natasha. Emmaline’s voice erupted in her mind, and Maddy winced a little at the sudden intrusion.

**_Something’s up. When I give you the signal, get King T’Chakka away from the windows. I’ll take care of the rest._** The two gingers made eye contact from across the room, both nodding slightly. Emmaline moved from where she stood by the elevator to hover at King T’Chakka’s elbow. Finishing his conversation with his son, he turned to her. Leaning forward into his space slightly, she spoke quietly.

“Your Grace, my name is Emmaline, and I’m here as security. When I give you the signal, I need you to move away from the window and follow Ms. Smith’s directions. I promise when this is done, I’ll answer any questions you may have.” She pulled away, sharing a nod with the suddenly very serious monarch, then moved to stand behind and to the left of the podium as King T’Chakka took his place behind the microphone.

“When stolen Wakandan vibranium was used to make a terrible weapon, we in Wakanda were forced to question our legacy. Those men and women killed in Nigeria, were part of a goodwill mission from a country too long in the shadows. We will not, however, let misfortune drive us back. We will fight to improve the world we wish to join. I am grateful to the Avengers for supporting this initiative.” Emmaline twitched, making eye contact with T’Challa, who stood off to one side.

**_Get ready._** Maddy leaned forward on her chair, watching.

“Wakanda is proud to extend its hand in peace.”

** _NOW._ **

It all happened within seconds.

A high whistling sound cut through the air outside. Emmaline shifted suddenly in form and size and dug her claws into the floor, providing a barrier to the King as the glass exploded with with the force of the bomb. Maddy caught King T’Chakka as he fell, breaking his fall and pulling him carefully away from the window. Emmaline bounded through the smoke and out the now non-existent window, landing on the concrete outside and shaking off the shattered glass from her fur. She disappeared down the street, now the size of a pickup truck, tracking the source of the bomb. Meanwhile, emergency medical personnel evacuated the building to a nearby government building. Once they were done fussing over him, Maddy settled King T’Chakka in an office chair, kneeling in front of him to meet his uneven eyes.

“Are you injured in any way, Your Grace?” He shook his head and grasped her hand in one of his, placing his other shakily on top.

“Thank you, my dear. Wakanda owes the two of you an insurmountable debt.” Maddy gave him a warm smile, adding her other hand to the clasp and squeezing gently.

“It was my honor, Your Grace, and I only hope that we may continue friendly relations between the Avengers and Wakanda after the Accords have been settled.” A warm hand settled on her shoulder, sending fireworks down her spine. Maddy tipped her head up to meet the eyes of Prince T’Challa, who looked down at her with warmth and gratitude. With one last squeeze, she released King T’Chakka’s hands, standing to face T’Challa. “I would be interested in learning more about the culture of your country, and its history.” She turned back toward King T’Chakka, nodding in respect. “I would also like to extend an invitation to the two of you and to the rest of your family, to visit Avengers Tower in the near future. Our specialized facilities would give your Black Panther a unique opportunity to train with others of similar abilities, and I have a feeling we will be needing assistance from one another in the near future.” She tipped her head, giving him a lopsided grin. “I’ve also heard that your Princess Shuri happens to be a genius in her own right, and I know a couple of brilliant teens her age who are dying to compare notes.” The two men chuckled lightly. Maddy grinned in response. “I can promise mature adult supervision for any experimentation that happens, and I’m sure the princess would enjoy showing off a little to a few white boys.” Chuckling still, King T’Chakka moved to stand, letting his son and Maddy assist him to his feet, and the three of them moved towards the elevators, where all of the other uninjured ambassadors had slowly been led. Emmaline’s voice startled Maddy from the quiet conversation.

**_I’ve handed the bomber off to the Maximoff twins, but what comes next is gonna be tricky. Did you invite the Wakandan royal family to the Tower yet?_ **Maddy huffed telepathically.

** _Yes, I did. No idea if they’ll come, though. Especially not once they learn that we’re not signing this damn thing._ **

** _Yeah, someone’s gonna need to set ‘em straight. The meeting’s been rescheduled to start in a half an hour._ **

** _That’ll be fine. Here, give me a minute. Tell the team to meet at Tony’s house here in Vienna, and tell Wanda to go easy on the brain scan till we get back._ **

** _He has a house here?_ **

** _Em, c’mon, it’s Tony. He has a house in almost every first world country there is._ **

**_Touché. See you there._** Maddy stepped forward to T’Challa’s elbow, leaning in slightly.

“Prince T’Challa, if I may, I’d like to speak to you for a moment in private.” He turned to his father, who nodded briefly. Maddy walked briskly through the opening elevator doors, cutting through the dawdling crowd towards a set of small conference rooms. Closing the door behind them, she gave him a serious look. “Your Highness, I mean no disrespect, but I would like to be frank.” He nodded once, giving her his undivided attention. “The bomber has been apprehended. We have someone taking care of his interrogation, but we don’t know what his motive was, and until we know for sure, we can’t ignore the possibility that this may have been an attempt on your father’s life.” He nodded slowly again, tipping his head to one side slightly.

“Your colleague, Ms. Emmaline. She knew what was going to happen, yes?” Maddy nodded firmly, her face serious. “How?”

“Emmaline is a telepathic shapeshifter, and a probationary Avenger. We as a team also anticipated something like this. It made sense that someone would make a move on the UN Council, especially so soon after Sokovia and Nigeria.” She gave him a sad smile. “I’m afraid there’s also been a rather unfortunate misunderstanding. The Avengers will not be signing the Accords.” T’Challa lifted an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue. “We’ve made arrangements for everyone without a secondary career to retire, and we’ll be happy to assist in the case of a world wide crisis, but it isn’t worth it to us to sacrifice our freedom to be treated like chess pieces on someone else’s board. The kind of damage that could be done if we were forced to work for someone with questionable intentions could very well be catastrophic.”

“Is there no way to reach a compromise on this?” She shook her head gently.

“I’ve tried, but the UN isn’t open for negotiation with us. One of their stipulations is that any potential members of the Avengers be vetted through a board of directors, and considering how most political leaders who would be on that board are incredibly biased against both mutants and Inhumans, that leaves our recruiting pools small and vulnerable, not to mention the mutants already on the team that would be at risk.” She gave him a small smile. “It’s unfortunate that the world doesn’t treat the gifted the same way your people do.” He returned her smile, nodding softly.

“It is unfortunate, that the world cannot see those who are different with respect instead of suspicion.” She nodded, her smile turning sad.

**_The meeting is set to begin in ten minutes. I added you to the list of speakers, towards the end_**. Maddy groaned lightly, then twitched in surprise as T’Challa wrapped a gentle hand around her upper arm.

“Are you alright, Miss Smith?” She looked back up at his, shaking her head a little and dropping the professional facade a little.

“I’ve been added to the list of speakers, and I’m not a fan of public speaking. Especially not when it means I’m the bearer of bad news.” He chuckled a little, reaching with his other hand to lightly grip her other arm.

“If I may be a little forward, Ms. Smith,” Maddy tipped her head at him and quirked a smile. “You seem to be quite the force to be reckoned with, and your ability to create an energy of peace in a time of chaos is quite inspiring. I doubt those skills will fail you, even in the face of the United Nations.” A warm smile and a faint blush spread across her face. A violent vibrating noise interrupted their conversation. T’Challa dropped his hands from her person as she dug hastily through her dress pocket, pulling out a Stark Phone and answering it impatiently.

“This is Maddy. Yes, we’re on her way.” A sudden, vibrant blush spread across her face. “I swear, Tony, next time I have you in the ring, I’m going to break your nose.” Loud cackling echoed from the phone, cutting off sharply as she hung up. Maddy looked back at T’Challa, who had moved towards the door with a look of open curiosity. “The meeting’s about to start, and the majority of the team are here now.” He opened the door for her, following quietly behind her toward the room of the gathered United Nations council, and towards the future.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Before the signing of the Accords, we have a representative from The Avengers, Ms. Madeline Smith, here to speak on the event from earlier today, and to answer any questions concerning the Avengers’ activities in the past year and their plans for the future. Ms. Smith.” A smattering of polite clapping spread across the room as Maddy took her place behind the podium.

“Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for the opportunity to speak to you today. My name is Madeline Smith, and I am the personal assistant and publicity manager for both Tony Stark and for the Avengers as a whole. As such, I ask that any questions, comments, and concerns be directed to me personally. The present Avengers are here as an indication of good will, and as an extra precaution, but they are not here to answer questions.” She paused for a brief moment, taking a breath.

“First, I would like to start with the most recent of events, that of the bombing from earlier this morning. Thanks to assistance from the wonderful officers in the local police force, and that of our newest agents, the bomber has been apprehended. He is currently being held in a secure location by the absent members of the Avengers, but will be turned over to the federal police here in Vienna in the next few days.” She met the responding hum of muttering with a gentle smile.

“As for the previous missions that the Avengers have undertaken in the past year, we extend a formal, heartfelt apology to those whose lives have been impacted negatively in any way by what happened in Sokovia and in Nigeria. We understand that trust has been lost, and that as part of regaining that trust, transparency is required. And we wish to give you that transparency.” Maddy stood up a little straighter, making eye contact with Tony and Steve at the back of the room, and then with T’Challa. “Since the fall of SHIELD, and subsequently, of Hydra, the Avengers have spent the majority of their time, effort, and resources on the task of finding and apprehending the individuals responsible for Hydra’s growth. Nigeria was one of these such missions. Brock Rumlow, a Hydra member and a former member of SHIELD’s Strike Team, orchestrated an attack on the Institute For Infectious Diseases in Lagos. His presence in Lagos was the only reason the Avengers were there.” Maddy paused, looking around the room. “I don’t tell you this to excuse the damage done or the lives lost. I tell you this so that you may understand. The Avengers agree with the United Nations that something needs to change. We cannot continue as we are, without supervision or clear direction. The Avengers will be doing whatever they can to repair the damage done, and to correct the mistakes made by Hydra under SHIELD’s protection.

However, I’m afraid there has been a misunderstanding. The Avengers will not be signing the Sokovia Accords.” Maddy stopped as the room exploded into chatter, waiting patiently for the noise to dim. “And I will tell you why. There are several reasons we have collectively made this choice, but I will give you two. First: one of the stipulations made in the Accords is that any potential member of the Avengers must undergo an in-depth screening, which would be orchestrated by a board of directors before being added to our roster. Due to the fact that our pool of potential recruits is made up almost entirely of mutants and Inhumans, and because of the current political climate in regards to anyone identifying as anything other than completely human, we cannot ask those in the mutant and Inhuman communities to risk their freedom in the hopes of joining us. Thus, our numbers would remain small, and our abilities to assist in the case of another intergalactic invasion would remain insufficient. Second,” Maddy paused, waiting for the chatter to die down again. “Second, given the ever-changing nature of the United Nations council, and of the political world as a whole, we feel it would be unwise, and unsafe, to put the combined powers of the Avengers in the hands of any group of people whose motives and plans are directed by the whims and ambitions of the powerful, regardless of the needs and lives of the weak.” She stopped again, waiting for the swell of angry voices to go down again. “Therefore, as of next Monday, the Avengers will be officially retired. Mr. Stark will be returning to Stark Industries to refocus his time on his company. All other members of the Avengers will be returning to their private lives, and will remain retired for the foreseeable future, barring another intergalactic incident or another large scale event requiring our assistance. We thank you for your patience, for your consideration, and for such an extensive attempt at a compromise. I will take questions now.” Muttering spread across the room, and several people started scribbling away on their notes. From over on the left side, the ambassador from Libya spoke up.

“Miss Smith, when you say that the Avengers will be returning to their personal lives, what exactly does that mean?” Maddy looked at the man, her professional smile never failing.

“It means two things: that they will no longer be taking professional missions of any kind, and that their lives will no longer be any of your business. We don’t expect veteran soldiers to give us the exact details of their personal lives, and we expect no such thing from the Avengers.” The scratching of pencils became a little louder, as a woman spoke up from closer to the middle.

“And what about the damage, Miss Smith? What will you be doing to fix what you have done?” Maddy turned slightly, fixing him with a chilly smile and a lifted eyebrow.

“Tell me, as the ambassador of Germany, what did your country do to fix what was done during the Holocaust?” Silence fell, and Maddy could see Tony grinning at her in her peripheral vision. “You paid for the damage as best you could, and you took responsibility for what was done. And that is exactly what the Avengers have done and will be doing. Stark Industries pilots an organization whose responsibility it is to repair the physical damage done to civilian and government property wherever the Avengers go, and this organization has already started working both in Sokovia and in Nigeria. We also have a program in the works to provide financial and emotional support to those affected in both countries, which will be announced in a press conference at the end of the month. The Avengers not involved in Stark Industries will be contributing financially to this upcoming program in whatever way possible.” The ambassador of Russia spoke up then.

“With all due respect, Miss Smith, how can we expect the Avengers to remain retired, considering their history?” Maddy looked at him with false confusion, tipping her head a little to one side.

“Tell me, sir, what do you mean by, ‘their history?’” He smiled triumphantly, sitting up a little straighter.

“Miss Romanov has been involved in over one hundred assassinations and deaths over the course of her career both before and after joining your SHIELD. Mr. and Miss Maximoff have each caused extensive damage since joining Hydra, and the rest of your Avengers have each caused a great deal of death and mayhem since the beginning of their careers. How can we expect them to remain uninvolved, considering their history of being overly involved?” The look Maddy fixed the man with was downright frightening, though somehow still professional.

“Sir, would you please stand up?” A little shaky, he stood, glancing at his neighbors and the back at Maddy, who just continued to stare him down. “I would like to inform you that Miss Wanda Maximoff, Mr. Pietro Maximoff, and Miss Natalia Romanov, were all recruited, trained, and began their “careers”, as you called it, within your country.” He shifted slightly, and Maddy could see a little sweat at his hairline. “I would also like to inform you, that of all the bases founded by both Hydra and the KGB combined, over 65% of them were found in Russia, and the only reason those bases are no longer running is thanks to the Avengers. You may sit down now.” He sank slowly into his chair, never breaking eye contact with her. “You can trust the Avengers to stay retired because the Avengers are choosing to retire. And, with all due respect, I would like to be incredibly frank. The Avengers are tired, and we know very well when we are not wanted. Working under SHIELD, and cleaning up after Hydra, has not been kind to the Avengers, and yet the world seems to be blatantly oblivious to the kind of danger that they put themselves in on a regular basis. I can tell you that, combined, the number of life-threatening injuries that the Avengers of received during missions over the course of their time together as a team numbers a little more than 120, while the average human being rarely ever sees that kind of injury more than once, if ever. This also doesn’t include the amount of time spent training and preparing for upcoming missions. I can assure you, if you ask any long-term soldier how they feel about going home, they will tell you that they are relieved to put their weapons down. And the Avengers are no different. I will take one last question.” A woman in the back leaned forward slightly.

“Miss Smith, this Council was under the impression that Loki Odinson of Asgard had been arrested for the invasion of New York City.”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“However, you’ve mentioned the possibility of another alien invasion several times. Do you believe that such a thing is possible, seeing as how the being responsible is currently in prison?” Maddy gave her a startlingly warm smile.

“Allow me to clarify several things. First, Loki of Asgard is, as of a few days ago, dead.” The scratching started up again, but Maddy ignored it. “He was killed on a different planet, during the Convergence, and his death was the result of trying to save someone else’s life. However, the Avengers as a whole were not involved in that, and the only witnesses to that event are either not open to discuss it or aren’t on this planet. Second, while Loki did lead the attack on New York, he was not the man responsible. That title goes to a being known as Thanos, and I’m afraid this is all we know of him.” The scratching had stopped, and Maddy looked at the large group of shocked faces, including the present Avengers, with a smile. “However, let me answer your actual question. We can safely assume that New York will not be the last intergalactic incident to affect us, for several reasons. First of all, the being truly responsible is still out there, and second, we have now proven that Earth is ready for intergalactic communication.” Maddy paused, her smile dropping. “In holding off the Chitauri invasion, and in successfully protecting New York, we have proven that the Earth is protected, and that we are not the lower-class planet of unaware farmers that Earth used to be. We are catching up to the rest of the universe, and that, to some, may be a problem. So it is quite safe to say that, though the Invasion of New York City was the first large-scale intergalactic incident that the Earth has been involved in, it most certainly won’t be the last.” A man in the back row piped up.

“Miss Smith, how are we supposed to protect against a being we know nothing about?”

“Thanos was going to be our next mission, to learn more about him and what he wants.” Maddy gave him a bright, fake smile. “But because the Avengers are now retired, I’m afraid there isn’t anything we can do about that. That’s all for questions, thank you.” With a nod, she left the podium, ignoring the frantic muttering, and walked out the door, flanked by the - now retired - Avengers.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The next few days were surprisingly quiet, at least by Avenger’s standards. Tony had offered to let everybody keep a room in the Tower “just in case,” so everybody cleaned out the necessities from their rooms and moved out. Tony spent most of his time in the lab, dividing his projects into an “Avenging” pile and a “Stark-ing” pile. Nat and Clint went off to the farm, though not before Maddy assured them that they’d be able to take care of the bomber without them, and not before Clint made Maddy promise that she’d figure out who his soulmate was that’d left the “fucking giant hickey” on his face (Tony’s words, not Clint’s). Steve went with them, to try and rest before going off looking for Bucky. Bruce had left for his new house the day before the Council meeting, so his side of the lab had been cleared days ago. However, even with the Tower cleaned out, that still left the Twins, Vision, and the ginger girls with a problem: the bomber.

“His name is Colonel Helmut Zemo, and he’s from Sokovia.” The five of them sat around the dining room table, eating, with a hologram projection of the security feed of Zemo’s room up in the middle. Wanda led the discussion, leaning on Vision’s shoulder. “Apparently the rest of his family were casualties when we dropped the city.” Emmaline propped her feet up on Pietro’s lap, shoving pizza in her mouth. “I wrote up the report already, but I think you will want to read it first.” She handed Maddy a packet of papers, worry shining in her eyes. Maddy starting reading, her eyes growing wider as seconds passed. When she got to the second page, she stopped halfway through, she inhaled sharply, and handed the paper to Emmaline. She took the paper, skimming through the first page, then stopped halfway through the second page.

“FUCK no.” Pietro jumped at the sudden noise as Emmaline threw the paper down, shoving her hands into her hair and banging her elbows down onto the table. Maddy reached over, placing a hand on the other girl’s shoulder.

“One step at a time, Em. We’ll take care of this one step at a time.” Emmaline took a deep breath, settling forward in her chair and closing her eyes before responded in a softer tone.

“First step is going to be to get Zemo to Vienna. We can just tell them that it was an attack on the Avengers, cause it was.” She lifted her head, looking at the other three. “We can have everyone meet at Clint’s, and we’ll explain what’s going on there. This is probably gonna affect everyone, one way or another.” Maddy nodded slowly.

“Thor said before he left that he should be back a week from this Friday. We can fly Zemo to Vienna in an hour, and be back in a day or two, which would give everyone a week to meet at Clint’s, that way we don’t all arrive at once.” Wanda piped up.

“Pietro and I can take him, if the two of you would like to meet with Tony and Steve before everyone gets to Clint’s.” Maddy started shaking her head before Wanda had finished talking.

“Thank you, Wanda, but I think this is an all-hands on deck situation. Besides, I don’t think they’d like it very much if just the two of you showed up, no offense.” Wanda nodded, her eyes sad, accepting Maddy’s hand when she reach out. Emmaline suddenly heaved herself out of her chair.

“I’ll meet you at the plane in an hour, I’m going for a walk.” She walked briskly towards the stairs, ignoring the look Wanda and Maddy shared. Pietro looked between the three women, wishing - not for the first or last time - he knew what the fuck was going on.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Three days later saw Clint’s farmhouse very full, and very loud. The house was surprisingly sturdy for its age, and the barn out back had been turned into a gym space that could’ve rivaled the one at the Tower, though Clint liked to complain about the lack of a swimming pool. The team had arrived in ones or twos over the course of several days. Steve had been moved into their spare room for the time being, but he spent most of his time in the gym or cutting firewood in the driveway. He’d tried running the trails in the woods, but he’d gotten lost at least twice, and the memory of traipsing through the wilderness of occupied France was still a little to painful. So he’d stuck to hitting punching bags and chopping logs, the latter of which had come in quite useful.

“I’m telling ya, Cap, you wanna just stay here for a decade and chop wood, that’s alright by me.” Clint shoved most of a very large roll from off Nat’s into his mouth, and continued talking, ignoring the dirty look Maddy sent him from her position next to Tony on the couch. “I mean, you don’t even need an ax, for fuck’s sake.”

“LANGUAGE!” Steve groaned at the group shout, half smiling. Emmaline looked up at him in cat form from her position on his lap, her eyes soft and sad.

Dinner continued like that, and two hours later everyone had settled in the living room for the ‘debriefing’ everyone knew was coming. Wanda and Vision cuddled on the loveseat in the corner, his wrapped around her shoulder and her head resting on his chest, both balancing near-empty plates on their laps. Nat sat sideways on the couch, with her legs on Clint’s lap and her feet shoved under Steve’s thigh, while Emmaline lay curled across Steve’s lap. Pietro had pulled a bar stool in from the kitchen, and was messing almost obsessively with an unsolved Rubik’s cube. Tony and Bruce each took up an armchair, and Maddy stood at Tony’s shoulder. The conversation had died down, and everyone looked to the girls, who looked at each other. Maddy sighed.

“The bomber’s name is Colonel Helmut Zemo. He’s a native to Sokovia, and he lost both his wife and his young son in the incident.” Emmaline jumped in, turning to sit in a more dignified position.

** _He set off the bomb, dressed as a former Hydra assassin, in the hopes that the other man would be framed, arrested, and that his arrest would tear our team apart._ **

“We’ve handed him off to the Austrian government, and a representative of the Wakandan royal family will be at the Tower on Wednesday to talk about how to move forward.”

**_We're also hoping to secure a business agreement with the Wakandan government to potentially rehabilitate the ex-assassin, but before we can figure out whether or not that’s even medically possible, we need to find him._** Tony interrupted abruptly.

“I’m sorry, what makes this guy think an ex-assassin from Hydra could tear us apart? And what’s that got to do with rehab?” Emmaline gave him a sad look.

**_He wasn’t recruited like the other Hydra soldiers. He was actually a sergeant in the US Army, but was pronounced killed in action after an extreme accident with his unit. He was brainwashed, and programmed to be Hydra’s perfect soldier, known as the Asset or Soldat._** Nat swore quietly in Russian under her breath, eyes wide. Emmaline twitched before continuing. **_When the twins searched the bomber’s apartment, they found a book with instructions on how to control the Asset, as well as an extensive record of every mission the Asset was sent on, and how each mission went._**Maddy spoke up, settling a hand on Tony’s shoulder.

“We’re hoping that the technology in Wakanda can help remove the programming, and restore the Asset to a more human version of himself.” She threaded her fingers through his hair and scraped across his scalp, smiling a little at the way the muscles in his shoulders slowly relaxed. “The Asset is our business because he’s been involved in a lot of major assassinations, and because he has history with our team.” Slowly pulling her hand away, she dropped the proverbial bomb.

“The Asset was responsible for your parent’s death, Tony.”

She could feel the way he froze, could see the way his brain raced. But she had to keep going. “Your father had vials of a synthesized version of the serum used to change Steve in the trunk of his car. Hydra had The Asset disable part of the car on their way to Washington, which caused them to hit a tree, totaling the car.” She moved to comb her fingers through his hair, trying to ignore the way he flinch underneath her touch. Emmaline continued for her, watching the two of them carefully.

**_The Asset was tortured for twenty years, before they’d wiped enough of his memory and his resistance to get him to cooperate, and they still had to wipe him every so often because he would start getting resistant. And when they didn’t need him, they kept him frozen._** She adjusted her body, trying to find the words, before deciding to just spit it out. **_The Asset is also called the Winter Soldier, or Bucky Barnes._** Steve jolted underneath her, and she stifled a cat-like grumble over the disruption. Steve and Tony made eye contact, as they both put the puzzle pieces together. Tony stood up suddenly, walking out of the room. Maddy watched him go, flinching at the sudden slam of the back door. Steve moved more slowly, scooping Emmaline gently off his lap and walking over to set her on Nat’s stomach before walking quietly upstairs. The silence settled for a moment or two, before Pietro found the courage to ask his questions. 

“Who is Bucky Barnes?” Maddy sighed, but Vision answered the question.

“According to SHIELD records, Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, known to his friends as Bucky, was a member of United States Army during World War Two. He was also a member of the Howling Commandos, and is best known as Captain America’s life-long best friend and right hand man.” Pietro’s eyes grew, and his fingers on the Rubik’s cube froze. Nat settled a hand on Emmaline’s back, petting absentmindedly. “He was declared ‘killed in action’ when he fell from a train off of a cliff in Azzano in the 1950s, but there is nothing in my records of anything regarding Sergeant Barnes after that date.” Emmaline jumped in, her voice quiet and sad.

**_He survived the fall from the cliff, but destroyed his left arm. Hydra found him, amputated his arm and replaced it with a robotic prosthetic. His memory was wiped, and he’s been a Hydra puppet ever since. Until Hydra fell._** She sent Maddy a hard look, at which the other girl nodded and walked out to find Tony, closing the back door carefully behind her with a firm click. Emmaline sighed, sliding gracefully off Nat’s lap and onto the floor. **_I think that’s enough for tonight_**. And with that, she followed Steve’s footsteps, slinking quietly upstairs.


	13. Let The Cat Out Of The Bag

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Tony diffuse a little after the news.  
Clint, Steve, and Nat all have correlating epiphanies.  
Tony finds out about the third soulmate.  
And there are three science-y teenage geniuses and one IronMan in the same lab.

By the time Maddy found him, Tony’d already found something to busy his hands. His jacket lay thrown haphazardly over a table saw, collecting sawdust, and he’d pulled himself underneath an old Chevy. She half-smiled, walking over to nudge gently at his leg with her foot.

“If you need something, leave a message with the secretary.” Maddy huffed out a laugh, tapping his leg again.

“Tony, this _is_ the secretary.” His body froze, and she stepped back as he slowly pulled himself out from under the truck. He pushed himself onto his feet, leaning back on the truck out of her reach, and she tried to ignore the part of her that hurt at the way he pulled away from her. Tony looked at her, saying nothing. She tipped her head to one side, answering his silence with silence. After a few seconds, he sighed.

“Look, if you’re going to lecture me - “

“Tony.” He flinched faintly, folding his arms nonchalantly in front of him and looking away, and Maddy’s heart broke just a little. She stepped carefully closer to him, reaching out to touch him, ignoring the way his skin jumped underneath her fingertips. “You’re allowed to be angry, Tony.” His jaw dropped a little, his eyes widening. “You just found out your parents were murdered by your friend’s soulmate, Tony, of course you’re angry.” She dragged her hands up and down his arms, watching his eyes. After a moment, she stepped a little closer, her voice soft and gentle. “Can I hug you?” Slowly, he nodded, like he was still trying to catch up to what was happening. Maddy smiled a little, stepping closer to wrap her arms around him and squeeze, like she was trying to push all of his broken pieces back together. He hesitated, putting his arms around her delicately. “You can hug me tighter, Tony, I’m not gonna break, and I’m not gonna leave.” With that, he relaxed in fractions, letting the weight of his arms settle around her before tightening to return the constricting grasp. And she couldn’t help but smile.

For what felt like forever, they just stood there, just holding each other, until Tony wondered whether or not it could be possible to just live like this. This comforting sort of weight across his chest, with someone else’s warmth wrapped around him. He sighed, loosening his grip, letting her step out of the embrace, though not out of his space. His hands gripped her hip bones gently, as her hands wandered up to cup his face.

“I will never be upset with you for being upset, Tony.” Her voice turned a little stern. “However, I will be upset if you do something reckless because you’re upset.” He cocked an eyebrow at her, the vulnerability shoved underneath the persona.

“But reckless is my middle name.” She gave him an unimpressed look.

“Sweetheart, your middle name is Edward.” Tony rolled his eyes, pulling her closer to him so that the space between them all but disappeared. She smiled softly, the sadness at the way he was hurting still lingering in her eyes. “You don’t have to talk to me about how you’re feeling right now, but just promise me that you’ll talk to me before you go do something crazy and stupid.” He smiled, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead.

“I promise.” She grinned up at him.

“And in the meantime, if you need something to do...” She leaned forward to whisper in his ear, “You could always do me.” Maddy pulled back to look at him, watching with satisfaction the way his pupils dilated. Tony smirked at her, skating his hands up her back and then down to cup her ass.

“Don’t write a check that your mouth can’t cash.” She smirked back at him, rolling her hips a little against his tented front.

“Well then, Mr. Billionaire, how about I make a deposit?” His smirk turned into a grin as she reached up to pull him into a warm, dirty kiss full of wicked promises. After a minute or two, she pulled away, smiling like a fool, and Tony’s heart did a weird somersault. “Let me go say goodbye to Bruce, and then we’ll go.” She laughed as Tony gave her a big dramatic pout, reaching down to smooth over his t-shirt. “C’mon, sweetheart, two minutes, and then I’m all yours.” He sighed loudly, smiling despite himself as he kissed her lightly.

“I’ll be waiting in the car.” She nodded, letting go of him to walk out of the garage and back into the house. Tony watched her go, trying to find balance between the rolling hurt and anger that sat heavy in his stomach, and the way his heart raced happily at her touch. He groaned, walking out to his car, adjusting the tent in his jeans a little. She really was too good.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Emmaline took the stairs two at a time, wordlessly grateful for the silence of cat paws and carpeted floors.She found Steve’s room easily enough, but the silence... Shifting quietly, she pushed the door open inch by inch, wincing at the soft creak that echoed in the empty hallway. Inside, the lamplight lit the room with a soft yellow glow, casting shadows on the corners. Steve sat on the bed, a set of old dog tags in his fingers, staring off into space. A large black duffel bag sat, half packed, at the foot of the bed, his stealth suit folded neatly inside. She slid into the room, closing the door with a quiet click. He didn’t move, didn’t say a word. Wordlessly, she knelt on the soft carpet in front of him, reaching out to cup his hands with hers to hold the tags together. Steve drew a slow breathe that rattled in his lungs, and Emmaline tried so damn hard not to cry.

“Seventy years.” His voice broke the silence carefully, like a sharp, quiet knife. “All that time I could’ve been looking for him, could’ve gotten him out, but instead I was frozen at the bottom of the Arctic.” He drifted back into silence, letting the unsaid guilt settle between them. After a little while, she spoke.

“You’re right.” He looked up at her, a little shocked. “If you’d given Peggy your coordinates, you could very well have been rescued within a week or two, but you didn’t.” Steve seemed to shrink a little, but Emmaline just kept going. “You could’ve made a world of difference to a lot of people, including Bucky, and probably even Tony, but you didn’t. But Steve - “ She reached a hand out to cup his face, waiting until his eyes met hers. “You can’t change the past. You did what you did, and now you need to be okay with that. And you need to move forward.” He nodded a little, releasing a shaky breath, and she let the silence settle over him for a little while. “Did you know about Tony’s parents?” Steve’s body curled in on itself a little.

“I didn’t know for sure, but I guessed it.” Emmaline nodded, letting him keep his guilt. She dragged her fingertips across the backs of his hands, thinking about all the people he’d lost, and all the things he’d given up.

“You’re going to have to talk to Tony about this, you know.” Steve grimaced and sighed, hanging his head forward. This close to him, she could see the bright color of his soulmark wrapping around his ribcage underneath his two-sizes-too-small shirt, and her heart did a funny flip flop. “Congratulations, by the way.” Steve picked up his head to look at her, confused, and she gave him half a smile. “You found another soulmate.” He blushed, one hand pulling away to touch the spot.

“If only I knew who it was,” he mumbled, rubbing softly at the vibrant skin, and she swallowed down a grin.

“Well do you remember when you got it?” Steve blew out a slow breath, lifting his eyebrows.

“I think it was at the funeral, but I’m not sure. I found it the next morning, when I came back from my run and went to shower.” She gave him an exaggerated thinking expression.

“Okay, do you remember anyone that touched you at the funeral?” He gave her a look of disbelief, huffing and shoving a hand through his hair.

“Course not, Em, you think I can keep track of everybody that touch’s me?” She quirked an eyebrow at him, smirking a little.

“Well golly gee, Cap, how many people you got touching you like that?” He blushed again.

“Not - that’s not what I meant.” Emmaline huffed at him, exasperated.

“Steve, come on, even Clint can connect the dots faster than that.”She watched his face, and tried not to feel the way her gut twisted at his look of confusion. Slowly, she pulled away, standing up. “Promise me that, before you leave to find Bucky, you’ll fix things with Tony.” He nodded slightly, and she fixed him with a stern look. “Words, Steve. Promise me.”

“Captain’s honor.” She nodded slowly, pulling away from him to stand up. Step by step, she walked away, pausing at the door. “Steve.” When he looked up at her, she gave him a sad smile. “When you figure out who she is, don’t wait too long to find her.” With that, she closed the door behind her, walking quietly back down the stairs. At the bottom, she took a deep breath.

“You seem to be taking this fairly well.” Emmaline looked up to see Natasha leaning against the doorframe to the kitchen, a carefully blank look on her face. Emmaline huffed out a humorless laugh, shoving a hand through her hair.

“Yeah, well, I found out about this shit like a week ago. Believe me, I broke like three punching bags over this.” Nat chuckled lightly.

“So, you and Steve?” Emmaline gave her a funny look, then just sighed.

“Just as soon as he gets his head out his ass about his damn ribcage, but we’ll have to see.” A buzzing sound came from Emmaline’s pocket, and she pulled out her phone, grimacing. “I gotta take this. I’ll be in the barn.” Emmaline moved to walk past Nat towards the back door, but stopped just past her. “Tell Clint - it wasn’t an intern.” Nat nodded, eyes calculating, and Emmaline smiled despite herself. She reached out a hand, brushing against Nat’s bicep, ignoring the shock that raced up her arm. Nat’s eyes grew wide, as Emmaline just smiled, walking away towards the back door. Once she got to the barn, she walked around to the back, turning off the alarm on her phone and sent a text to Steve. She shoved it back in her pocket, and shifted to the size of a tiger. Shaking out her fur, she ran, heading east, leaving nothing but a few faint footprints behind her in the dirt.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Steve groaned quietly, burying his head in his hands. He retraced his steps that day, trying to remember what had happened that day, trying to pick out the pieces from the blur of grief.

_“She really was something special, huh?” He looked over at Emmaline, then looked back of the photographs._

_“When I came out of the ice, I thought everyone I had known was gone. Then I found out that she was alive. I was just lucky to have her.” Emmaline smiled, looking him._

_“She had you back too, Steve, and I’m sure it meant the world to her.” They stood in silence for a little while, then he sighed._

_“Has anyone signed?” She tipped her head to one side, gauging his reaction._

_“No. Everyone’s on their way back to the tower now, and Tony’s been talking about using it to start up the fire pit on the roof.” Steve finally turned towards her, momentarily distracted a little from his grief._

_“There’s a fire pit on the roof?” She grinned._

_“Not yet, but give him five minutes and I think he can rig something up. Plus, Maddy’s been itching to set something on fire.” They both laughed softly. After a minute or two, she spoke again, this time a little more hesitant. “I think we can find him.” Steve’s face fell, looking down at his shoes._

_“Doll, I’ve tried, but it’s been months and we’ve found nothing.” Emmaline interrupted before he could get much farther._

_“Steve, I mean I think I can help.” His head popped back up, eyebrows scrunched slightly in confusion. She smiled a little at him. “What? You think I’m gonna let you wander the world like a sad puppy, looking for your long lost love while I stay here and babysit Tony? Not on your life.” She gave him an exaggerated grimace, then grinned when he chuckled. “Besides, I’m a mind reader, Cap. You’re gonna want my help when you find him.” Her grin softened as she watched his face fall a little. “Let’s just get through this mess with the Accords, then we’ll see what we can do, okay?” Steve nodded, and her smile grew warm. “Come on home to the tower when you’re ready, hun. No pressure, okay?” Her voice was warm, and quiet, and he tried not to cry at the way she warmed his heart. Emmaline tipped her head to one side, holding her arms out. “Come here.” She pulled him into a hug, holding him tight, like trying to squeeze him hard enough to put him back together again. A fire exploded inside of him at her touch, the suddenness of it pulling the waiting tears from his eyes to let them pour them down his cheeks._

Steve stood up suddenly, dog tags gripped tightly in one hand. He raced down the stairs, nearly falling on his face at least twice, coming to find Natasha leaning against the doorframe, her eyes a little glazed, cupping her bicep over her shirt. Steve didn’t even have to ask.

“Barn.” He gave her a grateful smile, moving past her to stride out the back door towards the barn. Once inside, he stopped.

“Em?” No one answered. He could hear Tony’s car running in the driveway out front, and he couldjust barely make out the voices from inside the house, but no sign of Emmaline. He ran around to the back. Still nothing. He pulled his phone out, going to turn on the flashlight, but noticed an unread text from Emmaline. He sank back against the barn, rubbing a hand against his face.

‘Remember your promise - E’

After a minute or two, Steve made his way slowly inside, where the rest of the team - minus Tony - still sat in the living room. Maddy stood next to Bruce, looking to be saying goodbye. The conversation of the room broke off as everyone turned to look at him. Steve raised up his phone, waving it slightly.

“Emmaline’s gone.”

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In one corner of the kitchen, the shadows shifted faintly. As the voices in the living room exploded, an invisible figure slid into the room, pausing at Steve’s shoulder to pull a long orange cat hair from his shirt. With a smirk, the figure teleported with an unnoticed pop, reappearing at the back of the barn. Cloaked from the watching cameras, he removed the invisibility cloaking, grinning a little at his own mischief.With a few whispered words and a soft green glow, the cat hair burned away between his fingertips, and a set of feline tracks the size of grapefruit appeared, trailing off towards the woods. His grin grew a little.

“Well, hello.”

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“What do you mean she’s gone? We’re a two hour drive from the nearest town and four hours from the nearest airport. She can’t just be gone.” The shouting had gotten kinda loud, to the point that Tony’d come back inside to figure out what was going on, and the entire (very loud) conversation had happened all over again.

“Tony, this is the same girl that can turn into a giant cat and hear everyone else’s thoughts, there isn’t a whole lot that she _can’t_ do.” Finally, after about five minutes of freaking out (mostly on Steve and Tony’s part), everyone had settled down enough to figure out what to do. Or, not do.

“We can’t just storm out and start searching the country for her, we’re retired. That’d send up a whole lot of red flags to anybody that happens to be paying attention.”

“And filing a missing persons isn’t gonna do a whole lot of good, cause according to a lot of federal paperwork she doesn’t actually exist.” Everybody looked at Nat, who shrugged. “What? I checked.”

“Security cams didn’t pick up anything, but I’m not really sure if that’s a comfort.” The discussion continued for a little while, until Maddy had had enough.

“Out of curiosity, does anybody want to know where Emmaline went?” The team looked at her, more than a little surprised. “You seriously think she’s just gonna disappear without leaving a clue?” A couple heads nodded and shrugged in agreement, and Maddy scoffed. “Please, if she was gonna do that, she would have waited until everyone was sleeping, and she wouldn’t have texted Steve. She’s on her way to the airport. She’s probably gonna catch the next flight to Paris, then she’ll head towards Austria, and work her way east from there.” The rest of the team just stared at her. “What?”

“How do you know that?” Maddy gave Clint an unamused look. “What?”

“Clint, I’ve been friends with Emmaline my entire life, don’t you think I know how she thinks?” Clint shrugged.

“Well, sure but - “ Maddy cut him off, turning towards Nat, who looked back at her unfazed.

“Nat, what was the last thing Em said to you before leaving?”

“Tell Clint, ‘It wasn’t an intern.’” Maddy turned back to Clint, who had a funny look on his face.

“Now tell me, Clint, if it wasn’t an intern who was it?” Clint’s jaw dropped a little, one hand drifting up to touch the color across his face.

“Emmaline.” The word came out quietly, like a half-thought out prayer. Maddy rolled her eyes, turning to Steve, who looked more than a little confused.

“You pull your head out of your ass about your ribcage yet, Cap?” He blushed. Tony interrupted, pointing with a soda bottle.

“Wait, what about your ribs?” Steve answered by lifting up his shirt a little, rolling his eyes at the catcalls Clint and Sam sent his way.

“Wow. That’s one kinky soulmark, Cap. You got somethin’ you wanna tell us?” Wanda smacked Sam’s head. “Hey!”

“It’s from a hug, birdbrain.”

“Oh nice, Maddy, very original. C’mon, man, tell us who it is.” Steve dropped his shirt, rubbing at the back of his head.

“It’s Emmaline.” He and Clint made eye contact, both lost for words. Maddy turned to Natasha.

“And Nat? Your arm?” Everyone turned to look at Nat, who pulled off her sweatshirt. No one catcalled, and no one said anything. The silence turned deafening as she pulled her loose sleeve up to show the bright mark across her upper arm. Tony, as always, broke the silence first.

“When the fuck did you get that?” Maddy smacked him upside the head. “Ow.” Nat just looked at him, the smallest of smiles on her face.

“About a minute before Emmaline left.” He just looked at her for a minute, his eyebrows slowly lifting.

“So you’re telling me that you, Steve, and Barton over here,” Tony waved his soda bottle around, gesturing a little wildly, “all share a soulmate?” Maddy answered for her, hands on her hips.

“Why is that so hard to believe? I have three soulmates, you have two, Steve has two, and if my hunch is right, Emmaline probably has four. It’s not that weird, Tony.” The conversation around the room stopped, and Steve looked at her with wide eyes.

“What do you mean, four?” Maddy gave him a confused look, before groaning a little and shaking her head.

“Dammit, I shouldn’t have said anything.” She sighed. “Usually, in the case of trios, if someone has two soulmates, then those two are also each other’s soulmate.” She gestured to Clint and Nat. “These two are soulmates, and Emmaline completes their trio. So since Steve has both Em and Bucky, odds are Bucky is also one of Emmaline’s.” A trilling ringtone went off, and Maddy pulled out her phone. She smiled, then gave Steve and Tony a stern look. “The two of you, get ready to go. The jet’ll be at the airport in five hours, and we’ve got a long drive to get there.” Tony opened his mouth to say something, but closed it quickly when she gave him a warning glare. “You, Mr. Stark, have a meeting on Monday with a couple ambassadors, and you and Steve need to work out your differences so that he can go find his soulmates. Car, ten minutes, go.” She turned around, walking briskly out of the room. The team just stared after her, lost for words. Saying nothing, Steve turned and walked back upstairs. After a moment or two, Tony cleared his throat, pulling himself out of his chair, walking towards the front door. He stopped suddenly, eyes going wide.

“Wait a minute. Maddy, did you say three soulmates?”

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“So let me get this straight.” Tony twirled a pen through his fingers, turning back and forth in his office chair. “You went to the council meeting, you and Em saved an African king from a bomb, his son just happens to be an ambassador, but he doesn’t know he’s your soulmate. And now he and another representative of their government are coming to meet with me.” Maddy gave him a grin, her eyes full of mischief as she leaned against the table. Like always, they’d ended up in the lab. They’d arrived back at the Tower at around nine the previous night, and Tony’d been working in the lab since about six that morning, which was honestly probably a record for him. Now, the clock was inching closer and closer to ten, and they were waiting for the delegation to arrive. To say Tony was both anxious and curious would probably be understating it. “May I ask why?”

“I told you Tony, it’s a secret.”

“But I don’t like secrets,” he whined, pouting. Maddy stifled a laugh, shooting him a playful glare, before breaking into a brilliant smile.

“Trust me, hon, you’ll like this one.” Tony couldn’t help but smirk back at her. He opened his mouth to tease, but FRIDAY interrupted.

“Ms. Maddy, your guests will be arriving in five minutes.”

“Send them up when they get here please, FRIDAY. Are the other two here yet?” Tony gave her a funny look, but Maddy ignored him.

“Sure thin, Maddy. Both young men have just arrived and are on their way up.”

“Thank you, JARVIS. Please activate open lab access.”

“Objection!” Tony called out, waving the pen in the air.

“Over ruled.”

“Passcode required to activate open lab access.”

“Passcode She’s The Man.”

“Accepted.” A whir and a click came from the lab doors, and a few seconds later Peter Parker walked through the door, in the middle of an animated conversation with a boy his age with shaggy, curly hair.

“I’m telling you, it’s totally possible.”

“No, it’s not, okay? I mean the size issue alone would be a giant issue, not to mention the fact that there’s a reason they blew it up.” The other boy went to argue with him, but Tony cut him off.

“What’re you two arguing about?” They both froze, Peter in embarrassment and the other kid in defense. After a second, Peter found his tongue again.

“Harley thinks it’d be possible to build a real Death Star, and I keep telling him it wouldn’t work, but he won’t listen to me.” Tony jolted a little, looking between Peter, Harley, and Maddy. Harleygrinned brightly, quirking an eyebrow.

“Nice to see you again, Mr. Stark. Thanks for the potato gun.” Tony’s eyes got really wide, and his eyebrows shot to his hairline.

“Wait, _kid_?!” Harley rolled his eyes as Maddy scolded him.

“Dammit, Tony, his name is Harley Keener.” Tony waved her off.

“Yeah, I know. Kid, how’d you get here?” He swiveled his chair to point his pen at Maddy again, his face a little pink. “Did you kidnap him?” He stopped, recalculating in his head before his jaw dropped open a little bit. “Wait, how’d you know about him?” Maddy just lifted an eyebrow at him. FRIDAY interrupted the conversation.

“They’re on their way up, Maddy. Also, you have a reminder that says “security discussion” set for 30 seconds ago.” Maddy clapped, grinning.

“Thank you, FRIDAY.” She turned to face the two boys, her eyes twinkling as she caught the way Harley’s fingers were twitching in the direction of the holo-table and Tony’s open toolbox. “Now, here’s the deal: our guests come from an African country that isn’t as poor or as helpless as the rest of the world thinks, and they’re trusting us to know that. So, what happens in the Tower, stays in the Tower, got it?” The two boys nodded seriously. “Alright, I’m gonna hold you to that. You’re minors, so I can’t have you since a non-disclosure contract, so we’re giving you a lot of trust here.” At the hiss of the door to the lab sliding open, the two boys turned. A young dark-skinned girl walked through the door, bickering lightly with Prince T’Challa, whose face was lit with a soft smile. The girl turned turned towards the inhabitants of the room with a grin, throwing herself into a dramatic, borderline obnoxious bow.

“Colonizers! How good to meet you!” T’Challa stifled an eye-roll, before meeting Maddy’s gaze with a warm smile. He walked over to greet her, ignoring both the general confusion of the other people in the room over being called “colonizers,” and Tony’s look of disbelief at what was happening in front of him.

“Ms. Smith.” He clasped her hand in both of his, bowing slightly over it. “It is good to see you again.” Tony’s eyebrows inched slowly towards his hairline, climbing higher as he watched Maddy’s face turn pink.

“Please, Your Grace, call me Maddy.” He smiled a little brighter.

“Just T’Challa then.” Maddy opened her mouth to respond, but the animated chatter in the background broke through.

“I think the biggest issue is going to be trying to find a power source small enough.”

“Wait, wouldn’t an arc reactor work?” Tony jumped in before they could get any further.

“What are you trying to build with my arc reactor?” The three teens answered in unison.

“A lightsaber.” Harley and Shuri immediately shouted “Jinx!” And punched Peter in the shoulder. He yelped, rubbing his shoulders. Tony grinned, but Maddy cut in.

“Non-weapons only.” Whining and groaning filled the room, and Maddy rolled her eyes as Tony threw his arms and legs out dramatically. “Fine, but“ - the whining stopped - “I’ll make a deal with you: you plan and build a fully functioning R2 unit, and I’ll let you try the lightsaber. Deal?” The three teenagers nodded emphatically, and Tony grinned happily when she turned to look at him. Maddy smiled in return, bending down to give him a brief kiss. “Alright, go at it. FRIDAY, start the Tinker Toy Protocol.” JARVIS agreed, and Maddy turned towards T’Challa, still smiling with a light in her eyes and a faint blush on her cheeks. “T’Challa, I believe we have a few things to discuss.” He smiled warmly back at her, and followed her out of the lab.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I keep insinuating sexy times between Maddy and Tony and then having a cockblocking, moment, but I swear, we WILL get to that point some time in the future. In the mean time, we have some Mischief coming up. Anybody got an idea what the future holds?


	14. Are You The Villain, Are You The Victim?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> T’Challa and Maddy talk business, our magical stalker makes himself known, and Steve and Tony talk it out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one’s a little shorter than the rest. Sorry guys.
> 
> Also, it’s been a while since I’ve updated, and I reeeeeally sorry about that. Life’s been a shitty roller coaster and finals kicked my ass. But enough excuses, here’s your update.

The sound of happy techno-babble faded gradually as they moved away from the lab section of the tower and headed towards Maddy’s office. T’Challa walked beside her at a respectful distance, which triggered a sudden question.

“Where’s your security detail? Surely Okoye didn’t just agree to send you and Princess Shuri here without potential backup.” T’Challa smiled slightly at her, his eyes filled with a soft light.

“The General is probably on her way to the lab. I’m afraid there was a bit of a... disagreement, with your Mr. Hogan over Okoye’s vibranium spear.” Maddy chuckled, picturing the confrontation in her head. An unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, indeed. T’Challa laughed lightly along with her, a warm smile on his face. When they came to her office, T’Challa swept forward to open the door for her. A small and simple gesture for sure, but Maddy could feel a blush creeping up her face, and she tried to hide the way her heart squeezed a little. Once they’d settled into the chairs in front of the windows inside, Maddy decided to bring out the business.

“T’Challa, I actually asked you to come here for more than just pleasure.” His smile grew and one eyebrow quirked up a little, and Maddy’s eyes grew wide as she realized her wording. “No no no!That’s not what I meant!” Her cheeks turned bright red, and she swallowed. “I asked you to come today because there’s a few things I’d like to discuss with you.” T’Challa sobered a little, sitting forward to give Maddy her undivided attention. Maddy took a deep breath. “How familiar are you with the Hydra files that Ms. Romanoff released?” T’Challa’s eyebrows rose slightly, and he nodded for her to continue. Maddy used a holo-screen to show him a few pictures of Bucky and the Howling Commandos from the 1950s. She pointed out Bucky, and continued to explain. “Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes was the childhood best friend and soulmate of Captain Rogers, and served in the US military in the Captain’s special unit in World War 2. Barnes was lost off a train and into a ravine on one of their missions in the mountains, and was declared killed in action. Unfortunately, with the discovery of Hydra within SHIELD, we also discovered that Barnes had not been killed as we thought, but had been kidnapped, tortured, and brain-washed into becoming a Hydra assassin called the Winter Soldier.” Maddy paused for a moment, turning to retract the holo-screen, then turned back again to face T’Challa, a hard determination shining fiercely in her eyes. “Since Hydra’s defeat, Barnes has gone missing, but both Emmaline and Captain Rogers are bound and determined to find Barnes, and we want to rehabilitate Barnes once we find him.” She stopped to breathe, and T’Challa spoke up politely.

“I take it this is where you are hoping for our assistance.” Maddy nodded firmly, standing up to pace between the door and the desk.

“Your technology and research is decades ahead of any other country, and we are hoping to establish a sort of alliance and business connection between Stark Industries and the country of Wakanda, which would include the rehabilitation of Sergeant Barnes.” Maddy paused for a moment, making sure to hold T’Challa’s eyes. “I know this is a lot to ask from you, and I am aware that any kind of agreement would have to go through both the king and the tribal council. But I also know that this could radically change at least one man’s life for the better, along with his two soulmates, and I believe that it would be a challenge that Princess Shuri would enjoy.” Maddy stopped talking, trying to breath through the way her lungs cramped at the thought of this not working. T’Challa looked at her, thoughtful. After a moment or two of thinking, he spoke.

“My father will not agree to give you vibranium, and I’m afraid that without vibranium, any attempt to create the kind of machinery necessary would not work.” Maddy’s shoulders slumped, and she tried to maintain her composure despite her worry. T’Challa stood, and stepped forward to place his hands on her upper arms. Maddy looked up at him as her heart jumped and caught in her throat. T’Challa continued, his facial expression kind. “However, if Sergeant Barnes were to come and live in Wakanda for this rehabilitation, I believe the Tribal Council would be willing to help him.” Maddy smiled brightly in relief, her posture relaxing slightly even as her heart continued to skip beats.

“Thank you, T’Challa. You have no idea how much this means to us.” T’Challa nodded his head slightly.

“You are very welcome, Maddy, though I must ask a favor of you in return for our help.” Maddy’s eyes turned slightly suspicious, even as she nodded.

“Of course, what can I do to help you?” His expression became a little mischievous as he smiled.

“I assume you would like for Shuri and your Mr. Stark to oversee this process, but I would like it very much if you would come to Wakanda to oversee both the preparations for Sergeant Barnes’ rehabilitation and the negotiations between our country and Stark Industries. This would be the first long-term cooperation between Wakanda and any group of outsiders, and I anticipate that this will require a delicate hand.” Maddy thought over his words, before giving him an incredulous look.

“You want me to go back to Wakanda with you? Is that even allowed?” T’Challa tipped his head a little to one side.

“You are not the first foreigner to enter our country, my dear. And I am sure that my father will be glad to introduce the council to the woman who saved his life.” Maddy blushed a little, resisting the urge to roll her eyes, and decided to ignore the compliment.

“I’ll ask Mr. Stark and see if I can work something out. But since the Avengers are currently retired, I’m sure he’ll be happy to have something new to obsess over.” They both chuckled, Maddy reaching up to brush her hand across her shoulder. Like a lightbulb, she remembered the mark there, and she coughed. “T’Challa, there was something else I needed to tell you - “ FRIDAY interrupted suddenly, cutting off her sentence.

“Maddy, there’s a man in the lobby saying he needs to speak with you.” Maddy growled lowly, and in her frustration missed the way T’Challa’s eyes dilated slightly.

“Do you know who it is?”

“He won’t give his name, but he says his brother works here, and that he has information about Emmaline.” Maddy’s eyes widened, and then narrowed. T’Challa watched in interest as Maddy froze for a couple seconds, then suddenly jumped into action.

“I’m sorry, T’Challa, but I need to take care of this.” He smiled, and tried to bury the sudden feeling of disappointment.

“Of course, Maddy. I’ll... I’ll go check in on the lab and make sure nothing has burned down.” Maddy smiled, then rushed off and out the door towards the elevator. T’Challa stood still, looking after her as she disappeared, lost in thought. FRIDAY spoke up suddenly, startling him a little.

“You may want to check on the lab, Your Grace. They‘re finishing the first prototype.” T’Challa smiled despite himself, and casually walked in the direction of the lab.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Maddy entered the lobby like a king entering a war room council: strong, regal, and more than a little pissed. The various employees and loiterers moved quickly to get out of her way as she approached the front desk, a few older ladies smiling as they watched her take the room by storm, the click of her old-fashioned heels as poignant as a war-cry. When she got to the front desk, a tall man in a blue pin-stripe suit with light brown curly hair and a beard stood poignantly at the desk, saying nothing to the noticeably uncomfortable girl manning the desk. Maddy was not impressed, or intimidated.

“You. Come. Now.” The man bristled a little, and a flicker of green light caught the edge of Maddy’s vision as she turned a quick about face and marched back to the elevator. She fought down a weird mix of satisfaction and anticipation. Gotcha, she thought quietly, behind a very firm mental wall. She listened to his footsteps following her, and smothered a smile. Neither of them said a word as the elevator rose, and they continued in silence out of the elevator and into her office. Once the door was shut, she turned to him, crossing her arms and shifting her weight and popping out a hip. And she waited. After a few seconds, he gave her a warm smile and spread his hands.

“Ms. Smith, I’m sorry to intrude, but I - “

“Enough.” He stopped, a little stunned, as she continued. “You walk into this building, wearing a personality and an image that is not your own, and then say that you have information regarding an Avenger that doesn’t have a public name, and assume that I would trust you that easily?” He blinked at her, then a sharp smile spread across his face.

“Clever girl,” he cooed, and Maddy tried to ignore the way that phrase set her lower gut on fire. A green light curled itself around him in thin braids, and she tried to hide her awe as the soft-looking man seemed to melt to form a face and image that had haunted the news six years ago, the day the sky had opened and poured out hell on New York City. Maddy smiled.

“Loki Laufeyson, the God of Mischief, Revelry, and Lies.” Loki blinked, a little confused at the warmth in her tone and the smile on her face, but he gave her a falsely confident grin and a bow.

“At your service, my dear. How may I help you?” Maddy gave him a dangerously plastic smile.

“Well you can start by telling me where Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes is, so I know where I need to drop Captain Rogers, and then you can tell me how in the name of the Norns you got here.” Her flagrant use of Asgardian slang caught him by surprise, as did her vicious smile. Norns, but he could feel her chaotic energy boiling beneath her calm surface, and oh did he want to taste it. His smile became more genuine, but feral.

“Of course,” he purred, leaning back to rest his hands and backside on the edge of her desk. “Sergeant Barnes is in Romania, as is Ms. Emmaline, though I’m afraid by the time she makes it to the city he’s currently in, he will most likely have moved on already.” Maddy gave him an unimpressed look.

“And what city is Sergeant Barnes in, exactly?” Loki rolled his eyes.

“Bucharest.”

“FRIDAY, tell Captain Rogers he has three hours to settle things with Tony and suit up before he flies out.” She turned her attention back to Loki. “Well, Mr. Mischief? How exactly are you here, alive, on Earth, when Thor told us you were dead?” Loki gave a her a look of mocking hurt, pressing a hand to his heart.

“Goodness, Ms. Smith, you wound me. To think you only trapped me here to demand my secrets.” Maddy snorted, even as Loki sighed dramatically and pushed himself off the desk, walking towards the door behind her. “Well, if that’s all you wanted, then I guess I’ll be on my way.” Maddy’s temper flared.

“Don’t you dare -“ she darted a hand out and grabbed his forearm, stopping him sharply. A feeling of fiery heat raced up her arm and into her core, and they both jumped back, gasping. Loki’s heart raced, his unusually cold skin prickly from the lingering heat. Seconds passed, blue eyes meeting blue. After a minute or two, Maddy found her voice again.

“FRIDAY, send Beth up with a bottle of Minot and Thor’s stash of Asgardian ale, and activate Alpha Privacy Mode.” She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, before meeting Loki’s eyes again with determination. “This doesn’t change anything, Trickster. I still want to know why and how you’re here, and I still want to know what the fuck is up with you.” He flinched a little, just barely, and her eyes grew soft. “But I’m willing to trade.” Loki lifted an eyebrow. “A truth for a truth. No holds barred.” She gestured to a pair of large leather arm chairs sitting off to the side of the office. “Shall we?” Loki smirked at her, before gliding over and settling into one of the - surprisingly comfortable - chairs. Maddy followed, and surprised him by kicking off her 1950’s style heels and curling herself up into the chair. “So, first off - why’d you come here? I mean, you didn’t have to come tell us where to find Sergeant Barnes, and yet here you are. Why?” Loki leaned back, his elbows resting on the arms of the chair, his fingers pressed into a steeple in front of him. He hummed quietly, thinking.

“It has quite a lot to do with you, actually.” Maddy’s eyes grew wide, but she stayed quiet. “I was using my seidr to search for my soulmate, when Heimdal came to me and told me that he knew where to find her. But when I demanded that he tell me, he sent me to a little farm in the middle of your country. When I discovered the farm belonged to your pair of spies, I decided to wait. The next day, both you and Ms. Emmaline arrived. My seidr recognized that my soulmate was near, but I was unable to tell which of the two of you it was.” Loki shrugged gracefully. “So I tracked Ms. Emmaline in her pursuit of Sergeant Barnes, discovered both your identity as my soulmate and your connection to her, and decided that the information regarding her location would make a likely enough reason to meet you.” Maddy’s jaw dropped a little as she absorbed the information he had dropped at her feet.

“You spied on the Avengers, and tracked an unknown Inhuman and a superhuman ex-assassin across the world, just to find me?” Loki shrugged a little sheepishly, looking down at his lap, and Maddy saw the faintest tinge of a blush across his extraordinarily sharp cheekbones. Maddy smiled. “You’re clever, Mischief.” Loki looked up at her words, more than a little shocked at her warm tone. She’d said it like a compliment, like it was something to be proud of. Maddy cocked her head to one side, studying him, her smile turning a little sad. “You don’t get sincere compliments very often, do you, Loki?” He shrugged again. A knock on the door shook them out of the moment, and Maddy excused herself to answer it. She came back a minute later with the pretty bottle of wine and a rather ornate clay jug, placing both those and a pair of glasses on the table. She poured him a glass of the Asgardian alcohol, and handed it to him.

“So tell me, oh wondrous Asgardian: does Thor know you’re not dead?.” Loki snorted indelicately, taking a swig from his glass.

“Hardly. My brother hasn’t been home to Asgard since the trouble with the Dark Elves, and I’ve been much too busy ruling Asgard to let him know.” Maddy quirked an eyebrow at him.

“The people of Asgard accepted you as their king?” Loki gave her a predatory grin, and with a whirl of green, Odin Borson sat across from her. She choked a little on her wine.

“As if Asgard would accept anyone other than Odin on it’s throne.” He dropped the illusion, pleased at the look of awe on Maddy’s eyes. “Asgard is finally at peace with the other realms, and the trade between the realms is flourishing.” Maddy met his eyes, and felt her heart melt a little at the faint bitter tone of his words and the empty look in his eyes.

“And yet, you’ll never be able to take credit for it.” Her voice was soft, and it shook him to the core. Loki sighed, looking off into space.

“No. No, I will not.” The silence lapsed between them for a few moments, before Maddy found her courage.

“Loki...” He looked at her, soft. “Will you tell me what happened when you fell from the Bifrost?” It wasn’t a demand, or an order, but a gentle request. He could say no. And he thought about it, as his stomach turned to lead and his lungs froze. Loki shook his head faintly, trying to push away the suffocating memories. He sighed, and said nothing, choosing instead to take a large swig of the mead in his glass. Maddy leaned forward, slowly reaching out a hesitant hand to rest it over his, her heart breaking a little as he flinched. She set down her glass, and decided to let the matter lie, asking instead a different question.

“So if you’re playing Odin, then where’s the actual All-father?” Loki shrugged, uncaring.

“In a retirement home.” Maddy’s eyebrows shot up, and she laughed. He smiled back at her, before a thought came to him, and he gave her a suspicious look.

“Now, care to explain how you saw past my disguise, my dear?” Maddy blushed, clearing her throat and taking a sip of wine to fill the waiting silence.

“Ummm.....” She hesitated, and Loki smiled warmly.

“Go on, my dear. You’ll receive no judgment from me.”

So she told him. She told him everything.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Tony raised his welding mask, gesturing for the three teens to lift theirs.

“FRIDAY, upload the diagnostic programming system and then charge ‘em up.”

“Sure thing boss.” Harley plugged a series of cables in the back of the prototype, while Shuri worked to code the last of the programming on a holo-screen. After a minute or two, Shuri and FRIDAY gave Tony the thumbs up. Tony clapped his hands together.

“FRIDAY, turn on the camera and fire him up. Let’s see if he works.” The sensor light on the front of the prototype flickered to life, and the droid gave a soft beeping noise as he woke up, not unlike a cat making a ‘brrrrr?’ noise first thing in the morning. The dome-like top rose a little and turned side to side, and after a moment the droid rolled in a small circle. Tony grinned as the boys cheered and Shuri grinned. “Start up the Skywalker Protocol, FRIDAY.” The light flicked from green to red to green, and the four scientists held their breathes as a soft whirring noise started from inside the prototype. After a few seconds, a hissing noise came from under the round top of the droid, and dark gray smoke leaked out from inside as the diagnostic light started blinking red. Tony jumped forward, pulling up a holo-screen and tossing Shuri a second one. “FRIDAY, shut him down!” The light flickered and exploded, spraying sparks across the room in an arc and setting one of the tables covered with paperwork on fire. Dum-E screeched, wheeling over and spraying a ridiculous amount of fire extinguisher foam all over the table and the floor. Harley and Peter pulled welding screens down from the ceiling, trapping the malfunctioning prototype inside. Both Tony and Shuri pulled up the programming and shut the droid down manually, and slowly the smoke faded, leaving a very sad looking trash can droid covered in soot and smelling like burnt plastic. Once the emergency had passed, Harley and Peter removed the shield, and Tony sighed.

“Well that was an interesting show.” The four of them spun around to see Steve and T’Challa leaning in the doorway, an impressed look on Steve’s face, and a look of soft pride on T’Challa’s. The three teens gave each other a confused look as they watched Tony’s facial expression shut down at the sight of the captain.

“Your Highness, Spangles, what can I do you for.” Steve shifted his weight, more than a little uncomfortable.

“Maddy sent us down. We received updated information about our missing persons project, and you and I need to have a conversation in the next three hours before I can ship out.” Tony gave him an exaggerated sigh, tossing Peter a pair of gloves.

“Alright then, let’s do this before she comes and takes a bite out of my ass. Kid, Parker, Princess, figure out what went wrong and how to fix it.” He point a pencil at T’Challa. “You all set to play babysitter, Your Highness?” T’Challa nodded, moving into the room to let Tony and Steve leave. “All right, don’t blow up my lab. And somebody take the fire extinguisher from Dum-E, please!” The three rather confused teenagers turned around to find that Dum-E swirled fire extinguisher foam into a whip cream-like spire, and was slowly lowering a ball of old red pieces from Mark 3 onto the top. The lab doors closed behind Tony and Steve as the group burst into laughter, and Tony felt a warm squeeze of fondness, both for the bot and for the three teens that shared both his genius and his passion.

The walk from the lab to the community living room and kitchen was awkward to say the least. Steve leaned against the back of the couch as Tony pulled a bottle of alcohol from the shelf, waiting for the technological genius to give him his attention. Finally, after a minute or two of fidgeting with the bottle and the glass and the array of clean dishes that had been left to dry next to the sink, Tony turned around.

“So, Cap, what excuses do you have for me today?” Steve swallowed the urge to snap back at the taunt, deciding to play the peace card for once.

“I actually wanted to hear what you think about the situation first.” Tony stilled.

“Situation? That’s what you wanna call this, Rogers, a situation?” Tony stalked around the counter, waving his glass around a little. “I just found out that my parents’ death wasn’t an accident, that they were murdered by a Nazi organization embedded in the United States government, and that their killer is your soulmate, and you call this a situation?” He threw back the rest of his drink, turning to reach for the shelf of alcohol again, only to find that the lock-down paneling had quietly come down. “Dammit, Maddy!” Tony slammed his hands against the counter, leaning forward. Again, Steve waited, and not for the first time he wondered how he’d ever thought that Tony didn’t care about anyone else. If anything, he cared too much, and it tore him apart. Steve took a deep breath as Tony seemed to settle.

“I’m sorry for your parents’ death, Tony, and I’m sorry for mine and Bucky’s involvement in it.” Tony looked over at him, his gaze calculating. Steve met his eyes patiently, shifting his body language to be less aggressive, and he sighed a little. “I wish you could’ve met Buck way back when. I think you would’ve liked him, and he would’ve loved to talk your ears off about your tech.” Steve thought for a second, then huffed out a laugh. “He used to pester Howard in his lab on our off days, asking about the tools and the Expo and all sorts of different things. Used to drive Howard crazy.” After a moment or two, Steve pulled himself out of his memories, then he let out an almost wistful sigh, shoving his hand through his hair. After a minute of Tony staring at him, Steve spoke again, his voice low. “You and the others on the team have become my friends, Tony, and I don’t want to mess that up. But Bucky’s the only family I have left.” Steve turned to face Tony, his eyes pleading, and Tony felt his defenses start to crumble. Usually, Tony managed to forget about World War Two Hero Captain America, Howard’s greatest pride and joy, and he just saw Leader of the Avengers Captain Rogers, but here, in this moment of vulnerability, Tony saw Steve. Just Steve. A broken, battle-worn, old man who’d lost all the original family he’d ever had, all the reminders of the time in which he was born. Almost. Steve scrubbed a hand over his face, letting down his guard enough to make one last plea. When he spoke next, his voice was small. “Tony, please, don’t make me choose.”

In that moment, if anyone had walked in, or if anyone had asked what made Tony change his mind, he would’ve laughed it off, said something about having a weakness for pretty blue eyes and a sob story, and moved one hurriedly to find something useful to do with his hands and his brain. But no one walked in. No alarm went off. No emergency popped up. So Steve looked down at his shoes, remembering the way his heart had ripped itself to pieces in agony as he watched Bucky slipped through his fingers and off the broken train. Tony looked at Steve, remembering the way his lungs had filled with fear and guilt as he watched Pepper fall, watched her sink into the smoke as his promise to catch her slipped traitorously from his tongue. How even now, even after they’d parted ways and each found soulmates of their own, he’d still drop everything to help her if she asked him to. The seconds dragged, as both men relived some of their most painful memories, and in that moment, they weren’t all that different. When the memory and the thoughts became too much, Tony cleared his throat, and clapped a hand on Steve’s shoulder, offering him a crooked smile.

“Let’s find your soulmates, and we’ll deal with everything else later.” Steve smiled slowly back at him, a little disbelieving at the extended olive branch, and shook Tony’s hand.

“Let’s get to work.”


	15. Till The End Of The Line

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve heads to Bucharest to look for Bucky, which ends up being more complicated than he thought.

If Steve had flown commercial, the flight from New York City to Bucharest would’ve been at least 10 and a half hours of waiting in terminals, avoiding recognition, shoving his large body into too-small airplane seats, and trying not to have an panic attack every time the turbulence jostled the plane. In Tony’s jet, it took five hours, and Steve slept for maybe an hour of it. His brain kept turning over memories in his head, like an old movie reel projector. And over and over again the thought of what Hydra had done to his sweet Bucky rolled the coil of anger tighter and tighter inside of him. So instead of thinking about all the ways Steve would love for Arnim Zola to be alive again just so he could destroy him in the the painful, messy, complicated way that he really deserved, Steve looked at the traffic and weather patterns of Bucharest. Instead of reliving the day Bucky fell, over and over again from his memories, he mapped out the city and circled all the known Hydra holdings in thick red marker, along with escape routes and correlating blueprints for each. Instead of listening to Hydra’s recordings of Bucky’s screams echo in his head, Steve practiced his German and what little Russian Natasha had managed to teach him in between missions. So by the time the pilot announced their descent, Steve had memorized four different routes to each of the three Hydra warehouses in the city and exactly what he would need to say in at least six different situations. And none of that information made him feel any more prepared, or any less anxious.

Despite bringing and using his phone, it took Steve ten minutes of walking to get lost, two conversations in German and one in meager Russian for him to get directions, and twenty more minutes of walking before he decided three things:

1.) Steve missed his motorcycle,

2.) Europe hadn’t changed all that much since the 1940s, and

3.) This was going to be a lot harder than he’d thought.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Three weeks later, and Steve was starting to lose hope. The three Hydra warehouses were empty and run down, and after spending four days on stakeout for each one, Steve knew that he wasn’t going to find Bucky in any Hydra building. And not for the first time, Steve found himself frustrated with just how incapable he felt. He decided to call someone who knew how to do this much better than he did. And thank heavens, she picked up on the first ring.

“Hey Steve, how’s it going?” Nat’s voice across the line eased Steve’s worries a little. He huffed a little, scrubbing his hand over his face and sinking into a chair. The safe house he’d been set up in was actually a small apartment in a quiet part of the city, and the landlady had taken an instant liking to Steve’s quietly polite demeanor. Steve sighed.

"I don’t know what I’m doing, Nat.” He tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling, unseeing. “The buildings we know Hydra used here are all abandoned, and I don’t know where else to look.” Steve laughed under his breath. "Plus, I've been mugged twice and nearly shot once so far."

"Are they dead?" Steve snorted at Natasha's dry tone.

"No, just a little beat up. They'll be fine." Steve sighed, rubbing his hand across his face and closing his eyes. “You know I’m not good at this, Nat. I’m a soldier, not a spy.” Silence came from the other end, and Steve tried not to panic about it. Finally, Nat’s soft voice came across the line.

“Maddy’s sure that Bucky and Emmaline is here?” Steve raised his eyebrows a little, then smiled despite himself. Natasha always knew more than she should.

“Yeah, she's sure, and she hasn't been wrong yet. I've checked back in with Tony at the end of every week, just in case more information might've come up, but they've got nothing. Hydra hasn't been in this city in a while. FRIDAY even scanned through the book that has all of the Winter Soldier's old missions in it, and the only entry that involved Bucharest was a list of recon missions that he was assigned for practice under supervision in the 1980s during the Communist Era, and they only stopped here for 2 hours to wipe him." Silence again, and then Nat spoke up, her voice tinged with a gentle kind of sadness.

"Steve, how are you planning on finding him? Do you even know what he looks like?" Steve opened his mouth to defend himself, but his voice caught in his throat as an epiphany of sorts struck his brain. No, he didn't know what Bucky looked like, but there was someone else in Vienna right now that just might have a very good idea.

"Nat, I need to go, I think I figured it out. Thank you." Nat hummed gently.

"Be careful, Steve. You don't know what you're going to find." The line clicked closed, and Steve hurriedly dialed Tony's number, listening impatiently as the phone rang, and praying that somehow, this would work.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Hey Boss, Captain Rogers is calling." Tony looked up from his blueprint of a lightsaber prototype to look at the wall. 1:57 am. Tony hummed, wiping his clean hands on a questionably clean rag.

"Put him through, FRIDAY." Tony looked again at the clock, before smoothing out the blue paper again. Usually, Steve was very aware of the timezones and made sure to call when it was morning at the Tower. That he was calling this late - or early - meant that it was important.

"Hey, Captain Crunch, how goes the search?" Tony smirked as his own clever quip, pulling up a holoscreen in prep for whatever Steve needed.

"Tony, do we have footage of what Zemo looked like when he set off the bomb?" Tony's hands froze, and his eyebrows lifted. No recognition of the nickname meant that Steve was in a hurry. Which either meant that he'd found Barnes and needed information fast, or, considering the question, he had an idea and wasn't going to be distracted by anything other than answers.

"Lemme pull 'em up, and I'll see what we've got." Tony picked his way through the Austrian firewalls protecting the street cameras from around the UN building. It took about a minute or two (the Austrian government really needed to upgrade their security), but Tony managed to find a fairly clear picture of the street section that the bomb came from. Aaaaand.... "Bingo! We have a match, Cap! Just let me fix this up so we can see what we're looking at." Tony maximized the screenshot of Zemo's front shot and used some of the specialized software for facial recognition to clean up the image. FRIDAY piped up when he was about halfway done.

"Boss, I've got clean footage of what Helmut Zemo looked liked when he was here for interrogation." Tony paused, looking up at the ceiling in exasperation.

"Really, Fri? Ya couldn't have told me that before I started this?" Steve jumped in, ignoring Tony's whining.

"FRIDAY, would you please pull that up?" Tony nodded, finishing making the image from Vienna clear as FRIDAY pulled up the - already crystal clear - footage of Zemo tied to a chair from a month or so ago.

"Got 'em, Cap. Now what?"

"Great. Can you describe what he looks like to me?" Tony hummed, curious about where Steve was going with this.

"Dark ballcap, baggy sweatshirt, long dark hair, left hand has a glove on it. Face is a bit scruffy." Tony's eyes got wide as his brain clicked. "You think Zemo dressed like your boy when he set off the bomb." Tony listened as Steve let out a relieved-sounding sigh.

"Yeah. Can you have FRIDAY take those two pictures and use the facial recognition software to look for matches in Bucharest from the past month." Tony whistled lowly, even as he pulled up a few screens to start FRIDAY on it.

"Wow Cap, those are some fancy words for an old grandpa." Steve huffed, and Tony could almost picture him rolling his eyes.

"Gee thanks, Tony, I must be spending too much time in your lab. Guess I should go back to carving soap in my rocking chair." Tony laughed despite himself, picturing Steve sitting in a rocking chair on a porch somewhere in Alabama, carving soap and watching cows.

"Well alright then, Gramps, your algorithm should be done in a week or so, hopefully less." Another sigh came across the line, and Tony felt a pang of pity for the poor man, grasping at strings to find his soulmate. After a second, Steve's voice responded again.

"Okay. Will you send me updates as FRIDAY goes through different sections, so I at least know where he's not?" Tony twirled a random screwdriver in his hands.

"Sure thing, Cap." He tossed the screwdriver in the air, watching it spin head over handle, then catching it as it came down again. "In the meantime, take a break. See the city, go shopping, practice your Russian. You never know when you'll be in Romania again." Expected another scoff, or for Steve to just hang up on him, Tony dropped the screwdriver handle-first onto his foot as Steve hummed in agreement instead.

"Thanks for your help, Tony. I might just do that." Tony swore, dropping into a swivel chair and shaking out his - thankfully sneakered - foot.

"No problem, Cap. Good luck!" The line clicked closed as Steve hung up, and Tony closed his eyes, exhaustion starting to finally settle over his brain. After a few seconds, he sighed, and stood up to put the rest of his sketches and ideas for the lightsaber away. A soft tapping noise caught his attention, pulling Tony's eyes up off the blueprints and over to the glass door that separated the lab and the stairs. A soft smile filled his face as he recognized Maddy through the glass, and he waved at her to come in. As his brain caught up to what he was seeing, his heart did a backflip. Maddy's hair was loose and curly, and her tank top and sleeping shorts left little to the imagination, and also provided evidence for one of Tony's constantly running hypotheses. Looked like her freckles really did cover all of her. He gave her a crooked grin, before turning back to the cluttered table.

"Hey, Mads, what's up?" She gave him a small smile, stopping at the end of his worktable.

"Not much. Thought I'd come down and see if I could coax you into bed tonight." Tony's hands stuttered and froze, and he looked back up at her in faint disbelief. Maddy's smile grew a little, and she stepped a little closer to him, until their hips bumped. Tony's heart did another backflip, and he watched as Maddy's grin turned both affectionate and coy. "It's past 2 o'clock in the morning, you don't have any meetings or deadlines until next week, the algorithm you're running for Steve won't be done for a while, and I know for a fact that there's a pretty redheaded soulmate of yours who'd like to make sure that you actually get some rest tonight." Damn, Tony thought wildly. At this point, Tony's heart could probably win gold in the Olympics for the series of tricks it just did. He turned toward her, settling his hands on her hips. The smile on her face turned soft, and she reached up to cradle his face in her hands. Tony's eyes staggered shut, and he felt the tension in his shoulders release a little at her touch. He felt her shift in his hands, and electricity raced hot across his skin as he felt her place a gentle kiss on his lips. Maddy settled back down on her feet, and Tony opened his eyes to smile at her. She pulled back slowly, moving to grab one of his hands in hers, and silently led him to the elevator. And in that moment, Tony realized that maybe, just maybe, things wouldn't be so bad around here after all.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Steve spent the next forty-eight hours after the phone call with Tony deep-cleaning his apartment and trying to ignore the impatient clock in his head that ticked the seconds closer and closer to when the facial recognition should have pulled something up. When the third day dawned, and Steve still hadn't heard anything from Tony, he decided it was time to go grocery shopping. The food storage that he'd set up when he'd gotten there was almost cleaned out, and if he was going to become familiar with the city, Steve figured he might as well live the civilian life here and do normal things. He'd found a funny looking cloth cart in the corner of the now-clean pantry, and after looking up a picture on his phone (thank Thor that Tony'd made sure that his apartment had secure WiFi), he figured out that it was actually a shopping cart.

It took Steve an hour into shopping to realize that (a) he couldn't read a lot of the labels of things at the supermarket, and (b) with the size of his cart, he'd have to go shopping every other day in order to keep up with his metabolism. And as tempting as it was to just eat out for every meal, his Russian and German were still rusty, and Steve trusted the food labels at the grocery store a lot more than the fancy names of different dishes on a menu in a restaurant.

Walking through the city streets back to his apartment was surprisingly comforting, listening to the sounds of such an old city around him. People and cars going by, chattering in voices that blended themselves into white noise. The air tasted different here, Steve noticed, and there were so many people that he blended in perfectly. Nobody looked at Steve twice, and he hadn't been asked for a picture or an autograph since getting here. It was a kind of anonymity that he hadn't quite realized he missed. It took him back to 1940s, back when he was still small and weak and his life was a lot less crazy.

The buzz of his phone in his pocket pulled Steve out of his thoughts just as he reached his building. He looked down, his heart jumping in hope as he read Tony's name. He clicked the green button and put the phone to his ear, cradling it with his shoulder to dig his keys to the front door of the building out of his pocket.

"Hey, Tony, what do you have for me?" Steve smiled a little at the huff that answered him.

"Wow, Cap, good morning to you. How are you doing? Lovely weather we're having this morning isn't it?" Steve snorted under his breath, bending over to scoop the shopping cart into his arms and start the awkward climb up the 10 flights of stairs to his apartment.

"Yes, Tony. Good morning, hope you're well. How's Maddy?" The manic clicking noise on Tony's end of the line paused briefly.

"She's doing well." Tony paused, then continued on to business. "So, good news first: the algorithm is working a lot faster than I thought, so it should only be another couple days before it's done." He paused again, and Steve fought the urge to roll his eyes. He stopped on the second floor, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes.

"Bad news, Tony?"

"Bad news Capsicle, is that FRIDAY's been through almost half the street camera footage of the city, and we still haven't found your metal armed boyfriend. I also started a second algorithm looking for your girl Emmaline, and we haven't found her either." Steve sighed, picking the heavy bag of groceries up again and making his way up the rest of the stairs, the phone still pressed to his ear.

"Will you send me a map with the areas you've checked so far?" A hum came from the other end of the line.

"I'll send that over as soon as I can."

"Has FRIDAY found anything else useful from the Hydra files Nat dumped on the internet? Any other buildings here in Bucharest?" The manic clicking noise had continued, and Steve couldn't tell if Tony was typing or if he was just obsessively clicking a pen. After a few seconds Tony started talking again.

"Nothing yet, though the facial recognition algorithms are taking up quite a bit of her energy, so we probably won't find anything new in a little while." Steve hummed in acknowledgment, adjusting the cart in his arms.

"Okay, let me know if anything changes. How's -" Steve stopped and winced as a thunderous crash erupted on Tony's end of the line, followed by a high-pitched squeal of metal on metal, followed by frustrated swearing.

"Dum-E, what the fuck were you doing with the motor oil? No, you're not allowed to make smoothies anymore, you know that. No, put it down. _Now_, Dum-E." A sad electronic noise echoed again, and Steve smiled. Tony really loved those robots, despite his aggressively dismissive persona.

"What'd the kid do this time?" Tony swore again.

"He was trying to reach the blender on one of the top shelves, and he knocked the motor oil off the counter, slipped in the mess and tipped himself over. He also knocked over a stack of boxes filled with old parts." Another sad trill came across the line, before Tony called back to the penitent robot. "No, you're going to sit there in time-out for a little while so I can clean up the mess." Tony groaned lowly under his breath, and Steve fought the urge to laugh.

"You're gonna make quite the father, Tony." The spluttering on the other end was highly satisfying, and Steve grinned a little at the idea of Tony and Maddy chasing around small versions of themselves around the Tower. "I'm serious, Tony. You'll be very good at it when the day comes."

"Okay, hanging up now." Steve laughed despite himself, and in his laughter missed a step. He landed heavily on one knee, just catching the cart and swearing under his breath. "You okay there, Gramps? You need an ambulance? Do I need to call the funeral home?" Steve set the grocery cart down on the landing, looking up in relief to see the large number 10 on the wall between apartment doors.

"I'm alright, Tony, I was just so busy picturing you swearing at tiny versions of you and Maddy that I missed a step on the stairs." He smiled again as Tony scoffed into the phone.

"Sure thing, Cap. We'll see who's laughing when you've got a tiny little Steve to keep from fighting everything." Steve groaned a little at the mental image.

"Yeah, yeah, okay. I'll let you go, sounds like you've got metal children to clean up after. Give my best to Maddy and the science kids." Tony hummed.

"Good luck, Cap. I'll send you those maps just as soon as I get this motor oil cleaned up." Steve set the cart down in front of his door, digging his keys back out of his pocket.

"Thanks for the help, Tony."

"Yep, okay, bye." Steve snorted lightly at Tony's quick goodbye as the line clicked closed, pushing the door open and dragging his load into the kitchen. Steve lost himself a little in the task of putting things away, focusing on where things go and making sure that everything was the way it should be. Cans in the cupboard next to the spices above the stove, pasta on the shelving in the pantry above the half-full potato bin, fruit - Steve groaned, resting his head against the cupboard door. He'd forgotten to stop at the fresh produce stand on the way back from the store. He sighed, pulling a scrap of paper out of the recycling - he'd need to take that out when he went to get produce - and scribbled out a reminder to himself and stuck it to the fridge with an old magnet. Twenty minutes later, his phone finally vibrated. With the last of the groceries on the shelves, Steve settled onto the couch with both his phone and his laptop, and pulled up the maps that Tony had sent him. Clicking through the files, Steve took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh, scrubbing a hand through the stubble he’d let grow over the past few days. He printed out the maps and took a bright blue pen to the small gaps between the areas that FRIDAY had checked, the areas that hadn't had street security cameras. There was a map of the city’s surveillance cameras for every day since Emmaline had left, and almost all of them were identical. There were a few discrepancies, a couple of low-quality areas in the outskirts where the surveillance cameras had been broken at some point during the three weeks, and Steve outlined each of those areas in red pen. Creasing his eyebrows in thought, he pulled a city map out of his bag, spreading it out on the table and outlining the outliers again, this time altogether on the city map. Slowly, Steve’s thoughts slowed to a drip as he focused on the slow drag of the pen and ink in his fingertips, marking out jagged lines along the crooked streets. Finished, he sat back, looking at the puzzle in front of him. Steve snapped a picture with his phone, shooting it off to the spies with a short caption.

Cap @ Nat:

Can you see a pattern in these? Blue’s are the areas that don’t have cameras, red’s are the areas that had cameras that got messed with in the past three weeks.

11:52am Delivered

Glancing at the metal clock on the wall with rusty Roman numerals, Steve hauled himself out of the rickety wooden chair to make something to eat. Half way through, with a couple potatoes baking in the oven and a wrinkled recipe book propped up on the counter, Steve paused as his phone vibrated briefly. He washed the residue of garlic cloves from his hands as best as he could and scooped his phone up off the table from among the mess of papers.

Cap @ Nat:

Can you see a pattern in these? Blue’s are the areas that don’t have cameras, red’s the areas that had cameras that got messed with in the past three weeks.

11:52am Seen

Nat @ Cap:

Gimme an hour :)

12:24pm

Steve sent her a quick “Okay,” and turned back to the cutting board, trying not to think about all the things he could be doing to find Bucky faster, instead making a list of all the things in this century that made his life so much better. Electric can openers, consistent hot water, insulated walls, faster transportation, faster... well, everything. Everything in this century was so damn fast, it made Steve a little speechless sometimes. The fact that he could get information from the Tower in five minutes, instead of waiting for telegrams or letters to reach him was incredible. And they’d been to the moon, for Christ’s sake. Not once, but _six times_. And the pictures that telescopes and satellites were able to take of planets and stars and space was enough to make Steve’s artistic soul shake with excitement and awe.

Steve sank into a chair at the table, pulling a notebook out of his bag and scrawling a list of things that were different between the centuries with one hand and ate carefully with the other. About three quarters of the way down the page, Steve froze, a realization stalling the rest of his thoughts. The Equality Movement. The queers. That wasn’t illegal anymore, though from what he knew a large part of the country was still fairly conservative and prejudiced about anyone that was even vaguely homosexual. And now that he for sure had soulmates of both genders, and so did Emmaline... Steve wrote himself a note to do more research about queer culture, along with a note to ask Peter about it. He’d happened to overhear Peter on the phone one night with someone named Wade, and he’d ended the call with an “I love you, you idiot,” so Steve figured Peter would be a safe person to ask.

Twenty minutes later, his phone buzzed again. And again. Steve picked it up, eyebrows lifting at the incoming call. He swiped the green symbol and tucked the phone between his shoulder and his ear.

“This is Cap.”

“The blues are related, the red ones aren’t.” Steve smiled a little at Nat’s confident tone.

“Explain.”

“Tony sent me the footage from the red cameras from right before they were taken out, and all of them are either low-level criminals or accidents, things like fuses blowing or power outages. But I dug into the blue ones a little bit more, and they all went out over the course of the several weeks before Emmaline disappeared. The problem is, they’re also areas with a lot of people and a lot of apartment buildings, so if he’s living there, then you’re gonna have to stake out every building for at least a week each to figure out if he’s there, and seeing as how there’s at least fourteen buildings here, by the time you get through half of these he’ll probably have moved again.” Steve stifled a groan, sinking back into the couch. “Did Maddy say how she knew where they were?” He scrubbed a hand through his beginning of a beard and pulled himself off the couch to pace idly back and forth across the floor.

“All she said was that she’d gotten an anonymous tip with what seemed like legitimate information.”

“Well maybe you should try calling Maddy to see if her informant has anything else to add.” Steve paused in his pacing.

"Yeah, yeah I'll do that."

"Tell me how it goes." A shout comes from Nat's end, and she huffs lightly. "Clint says to tell you that if you get bored you can always come back and rip up some more fire wood." Steve laughs, shaking his head. It seemed like Clint wasn't going to let that one go for a long time.

"Tell Clint I'll be sure to come by before winter comes again to make sure he doesn't have to do any of the actual work." Nat huffed out a laugh again.

"I'll let him know." She paused."Take care Steve."

"You too." He hung up the call, massaging the place between his eyebrows where a migraine was starting to form. Steve turned to look at the kitchen, making a to-do list in his head, then decided to play it safe and write it down. First, he needed to take the recycling out and go get produce from one of the local corner shops. He also needed to call Maddy to see if she could get any more information, and he should probably plan out the best way to stake out the various buildings in the blue areas. Or... Steve added a note to call Tony to see if he could access the leasing history on the different buildings, to see if any single mid-30s men had started renting in the past six weeks. Hopefully that'd narrow down the areas that he needed to check. Steve sank his head onto the table, and allowed himself 60 seconds of pity before he pulled himself together to keep going. Out of the corner of his eyes, the papers with the marked-up maps fluttered with a slight breeze from the open kitchen window. Steve sighed. This was going to take a very long time.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Or at least, it would’ve, had Steve not stopped to buy plums.

“Ah, you are American, yes?” Steve’s head shot up, and the older man chuckled at Steve’s startled face. “You are very pale, my friend, and you are looking very lost.” Steve blushed, reaching up to tug at his cap and clearing his throat.

“Actually, I’m looking for a friend. Do you know of anyone else nearby who is from the United States?” The older man gave Steve a considering look, and hummed.

“I think I know who you are looking for. He is big, like you, no? With long, dark hair, and a soft voice? Your friend walks as if the shadows know his secrets. He speaks Romanian very well, and his accent… but you can tell that he is not from here, no?” The man looked Steve up and down, calculating. “I know who you are.” Steve gave a slow nod, and the man hummed again. He pulled some paper from a bag at his feet, scribbled on it with a chewed-on pencil, and handed Steve the scrap of paper. He looked down, and relief flooded his lungs at the sight of an address. Steve looked up at the man, who nodded at him. “Three blocks past the cathedral, and then two blocks east. That will get you close. You have a map, yes?” Steve smiled, reaching into his zippered pocket to wave his phone at the man, who smiled. “Mult noroc, Captain. Good luck.” Steve reached forward, shaking the man’s hand and palming him 20 euros. The man gaped a little at the tip, and Steve just smiled, waved, and walked away in the direction of the cathedral.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As Steve marched briskly away, a flicker of a grin crossed the old man's face, and he looked down at the slightly crumpled looking 20 euro note in his hand.

"You really are truly good, Captain, aren't you?" He mused softly, flipping the note over in his hands.He scoffed lightly, though not entirely unkindly. "And truly, truly desperate." Smiling to himself, the old man slipped the note into the register, and with the faintest flare of green, he disappeared.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It was one of the shittiest looking apartment buildings Steve had ever seen, and he’d seen some pretty shitty apartment buildings. Still, he thought as he trudged up the more than fifteen flights of stairs to get to the right apartment, Steve could kind of understand why Bucky might’ve picked it. The neighborhood was a lot like the one they’d grown up in; out of the way of typical traffic, full of the kind of people that minded their own business and expected you to mind yours. Panting just a little, more from anticipation than from the many stairs, Steve finally reached the top floor. Slowing his breath until it wasn’t quite so loud, Steve listened at the door. Hearing nothing, he tried the doorknob… and stepped back in shock as the door swung open with a quiet creak. After a second or two, Steve stepped through the door, dropping his backpack next to the kitchen entrance with a distinct thunk, and listened. Nothing. Slowly, Steve pulled his shield from his backpack, gently setting it on the magnetic mount on his forearm, before stepping carefully into the living room. And immediately got a shield full of bullets. Steve ducked, tucking himself behind his shield and back into the kitchen. After a few seconds of gunfire, the silence was deafening, and it took a few seconds of it for Steve to stand up straight and look out around the corner.

He cursed at an empty room.

Steve bolted over to the open window, in time to see... absolutely nobody. He cursed again, slamming his hands against the crumbling windowsill. He’d lost him. Again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’M SORRY  
Not really, but yeah 🤷🏻♀️

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and polite criticism are greatly appreciated.
> 
> No update schedule, but I’ll be going back through and editing every so often, so let me know of I make a mistake or three.


End file.
